Report: CIA And U.S. Special Operations Personnel And Resources Are Now Directly Involved In Ukraine Fighting Against Russia

The seal of the Central Intelligence Agency is shown at the entrance of the CIA headquarters in McLean, Virginia, U.S., September 24, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein  

The Intercept: The CIA Thought Putin Would Quickly Conquer Ukraine. Why Did They Get It So Wrong?  

High-tech surveillance may have blinded the U.S. to how corruption has weakened the Russian military. 

Ever since Ukraine launched a successful counteroffensive against Russian forces in late August, American officials have tried to claim credit, insisting that U.S. intelligence has been key to Ukraine’s battlefield victories. 

Yet U.S. officials have simultaneously downplayed their intelligence failures in Ukraine — especially their glaring mistakes at the outset of the war. When Putin invaded in February, U.S. intelligence officials told the White House that Russia would win in a matter of days by quickly overwhelming the Ukrainian army, according to current and former U.S. intelligence officials, who asked not to be named to discuss sensitive information. 

The Central Intelligence Agency was so pessimistic about Ukraine’s chances that officials told President Joe Biden and other policymakers that the best they could expect was that the remnants of Ukraine’s defeated forces would mount an insurgency, a guerrilla war against the Russian occupiers. By the time of the February invasion, the CIA was already planning how to provide covert support for a Ukrainian insurgency following a Russian military victory, the officials said.  

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WNU Editor: The focus of the above Intercept article is on US intelligence failures at the beginning of the war. But in the article itself there is an admission from US officials that both CIA and U.S. special operations personnel and resources are involved in the fighting in Ukraine. I cannot say that I am surprised. Over the past few months this blog has posted a number of video clips from Ukrainian and Russian social media of soldiers in Ukrainian military uniforms on the front lines speaking American English.