Putin can’t ‘afford to lose’

Russian President Vladimir Putin believes that he cannot afford to lose in Ukraine and is "doubling down" on the war, but shows no signs of planning to use tactical nuclear weapons, CIA director Bill Burns said Saturday.

Despite the failure of Russian forces to capture Kyiv and their struggle to advance along the war's main frontlines in the southeastern Donbas region, the Russian leader has not changed his view that his troops can defeat Ukraine's, Burns said.

Putin's belief in the Russian military's ability to wear down Ukrainian resistance probably has not been shaken despite key battlefield defeats, the US spy chief told a Financial Times conference.

"I think he's in a frame of mind in which he doesn't believe he can afford to lose," Burns said.

He said Putin has been "stewing" for years over Ukraine -- once part of the Soviet Union -- in a "very combustible combination of grievance and ambition and insecurity."

Putin has not been deterred by the resistance in the war "because he staked so much on the choices that he made to launch this invasion," Burns said.

"I think he's convinced right now that doubling down still will enable him to make progress," Burns said.

Burns, a former US ambassador to Russia, said his and other Western intelligence agencies see no sign that Moscow is prepared to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in order to gain a victory in Ukraine or to target Kyiv's supporters.

Russia placed its nuclear forces on high alert shortly after launching the invasion on February 24.

Burns did not offer any assessment of the current battlefield situation or predict how the war would end.  But he said that China, which Washington now sees as its primary adversary, is studying closely the lessons of the war and what they mean for Beijing's desire to take control of Taiwan.

Burns said he does not believe that Chinese President Xi Jinping has altered his goal of eventually uniting Taiwan with China, by force if necessary.