The head of Britain’s GCHQ spy service has said demoralised Russian soldiers are disobeying orders and have accidentally shot down their own aircraft amid the war in Ukraine.
Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) chief Jeremy Fleming said President Vladimir Putin had “massively misjudged” the capabilities of Russia’s once-mighty armed forces, India Today reports.
The head of Britain’s GCHQ spy service said on Wednesday that new intelligence showed some Russian soldiers in Ukraine had refused to carry out orders, sabotaged their own equipment and accidentally shot down one of their own aircraft.
“We’ve seen Russian soldiers short of weapons and morale – refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft,” Fleming said.
Fleming said Putin also underestimated both the resistance of the Ukrainian people and the resolve of the West, which has punished Moscow with largely coordinated sanctions.
“Putin has massively misjudged the situation,” Fleming said in a speech in Canberra at the Australian National University, according to a transcript of his remarks. “We believe Putin’s advisers are afraid to tell him the truth.”
Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine has killed thousands of people, displaced millions and raised fears of a wider confrontation between Russia and the United States.
