Russia-Ukraine war: The top official of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), on Sunday, expressed grave concern over the increasing proximity between Russia and Iran. In an interview with CBS, CIA director William Burns claimed that there was concrete evidence that Russia offered assistance to Iran's missile program in exchange for military aid. The critical remarks from Burns came amid multiple reports of Tehran sending its lethal drones to Moscow. Those drones were allegedly used by Russian forces against Ukrainian civilians.
"It's moving at a pretty fast clip in a very dangerous direction right now, in the sense that we know that the Iranians have already provided hundreds of armed drones to the Russians, which they're using to inflict pain on Ukrainian civilians and Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. We know that they've provided, you know, ammunition for artillery and for tanks as well," Burns said. On the other hand, the CIA director also claimed that Russia has assured Iran to furnish support for its missile program.
Putin is confident of "grinding Ukraine"
Later, in the interview, Burns mentioned his last conversation with the Russian spy chief and said the dialogue was efficient to know that Russian President Vladimir Putin was confident of "grinding Ukraine" in the ongoing so-called "special military operation". Burns said he judged Putin as “quite determined” to continue prosecuting the war, despite the casualties, tactical shortcomings and economic and reputational damage to Russia.
“I think Putin is, right now, entirely too confident of his ability ... to wear down Ukraine," he said. Burns said that “at some point, he’s going to have to face up to increasing costs as well, in coffins coming home to some of the poorest parts of Russia,” where he said many of the conscripts “being thrown as cannon fodder” are from.
