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Wagner is now prepared to send large number of personnel into Ukraine, says head of British intelligence agency

31 March 2022 11:11 (UTC +04:00)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has massively misjudged the situation in Ukraine and some Russian soldiers have refused to carry out orders, according to the head of British intelligence agency GCHQ, APA reports citing CNN.

Speaking Thursday in Canberra, Australia, GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming said, “it increasingly looks like Putin has massively misjudged the situation. It’s clear he misjudged the resistance of the Ukrainian people.”

Fleming said Putin overestimated the abilities of the Russian military to secure a quick victory.

“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,” he said without specifying when or where this took place.

“Even though we believe Putin’s advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, what’s going on and the extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime,” he said.

Fleming said it is “clear” that Russia is using mercenaries and foreign fighters to support its forces — including the Wagner group.

“The group works as a shadow branch of the Russian military, providing implausible deniability for riskier operations,” Fleming said, adding that Wagner is now prepared to send large number of personnel into Ukraine to fight on the Russian side.

“They are looking at relocating forces from other conflicts and recruiting new fighters to bolster numbers,” he said, “These soldiers are likely to be used as cannon fodder to try to limit Russian military losses.”