A former senior officer with the CIA said Saturday that Russia has ‘overstretched’ its military amid its full-scaled invasion of Ukraine, and lacks the manpower to ‘subdue’ the former Soviet republic.
‘Russia has overstretched,’ Daniel Hoffman said during an interview with Fox News regarding the ongoing occupation by Russian troops, which has reportedly fallen behind schedule due to sanctions imposed by other nations and unexpected resistance from Ukrainian troops and citizens.
‘Vladimir Putin took a great risk here. He’s dealing with extended supply lines, which is having an impact – a negative impact on his troop’s ability to move,’ Hoffman, a former station chief and senior Clandestine Services officer for the federal outfit, told interviewer Larwrence Jones and Medal of Honor-winning Marine Dakota Meyer.
‘There are major rivers in Ukraine that also pose challenges,’ he went on, ‘and there are large cities – and Russia just doesn’t have the troops to subdue them.’
‘Time is on Ukraine’s side,’ the 30-year CIA vet asserted.
Daniel Hoffman, a 30-year CIA vet who served as a station chief for the federal outfit three times as well as a senior executive for the organization’s undercover faction, the Clandestine Service aid Saturday that Russia has ‘overstretched’ its military amid its full-scaled invasion of Ukraine, and lacks the manpower to ‘subdue’ Ukraine
During the interview, which centered around the unexpected pushback Vladimir Putin’s 150,000-plus troops have faced in their four days of military operations in bordering Ukraine, Jones asked Hoffman, who followed the Kremlin kingpin extensively during his CIA tenure, to speculate on Putin’s current mindset.
‘You know him, you know what he’s capable of,’ Jones asked the ex-CIA chief.
‘What is going through his mind right now, as the Ukrainians are fighting back?’ the presenter asked. ‘This was supposed to be over in hours, but it’s going days.’
Hoffman then offered the interviewer his take on the conflict, as well as a glimpse ‘through the twisted eyes’ of the notorious Russian head of state.
The Fox News interview centered around the unexpected pushback Vladimir Putin’s 150,000-plus troops have faced in their four days of military operations in bordering Ukraine
Questionable military stratagem from Russian officials have resulted in its army’s failure to seize the country, due to unexpected resistance from the 250,000-strong Ukrainian side. Pictured here are members of a pro-Russia militia outside a territorial defense headquarters in Stanytsia Luhanska. Troops have so far failed to take crucial cities like Kiev and Kharkiv
Speaking on Putin’s questionable military stratagem that has resulted in his army’s failure to capture crucial cities Kiev and Kharkiv due to unexpected resistance from the 250,000-strong Ukrainian side, which has since been bolstered by citizen volunteers set on pushing out the Russian invaders, Hoffman said: ‘His formative experience was serving in the KGB as an intelligence officer.
‘He never served in the military – but intelligence was his business; and intelligence would have been key to him in determining Ukraine’s capacity and will to fight.
‘Putin took a great risk here,’ Hoffman went on, listing some of the obstacles the politician – who has been largely successful with past military campaigns in Georgia in 2008, Ukraine in 2014, and Syria since 2015 – has faced during his latest conquest.
‘He’s dealing with supply lines, which have had an impact, a negative impact, on his troops’ ability to move,’ Hoffman said.
‘There are major rivers in Ukraine that also pose challenges.
‘And there are large cities – and Russia just doesn’t have the troops to subdue them.
Interviewer Lawrence Jones (center) asked Hoffman (at right), who followed the Kremlin kingpin extensively during his CIA tenure, to speculate on Putin’s current mindset and his army’s largely unsuccessful military campaign. The pair were also joined by Marine vet and Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Meyer (at left)
Hoffman offered his take on the conflict, as well as a glimpse ‘through the twisted eyes’ of the notorious Russian President Vladimir Putin, who’s spearheaded the operation, and whom Hoffman has followed extensively over the course of his career
Hoffman continued: ‘And [you have] Ukraine, as you’ve highlighted, led by President [Volodymyr] Zelensky, bravely demonstrating how committed they are, righting for their freedom and independence.’
‘And we are now stepping up,’ Hoffman then declared, referring to foreign aid in the form of funding and weapons countries like the US have since provided the country as it struggles to repulse the Russian invasion – including$350 million worth of weapons signed off by Biden Friday.
‘The longer they hang in the there, the more we can get them in terms of humanitarian assistance and military assistance,’ Hoffman said, including high-tech anti-tank and heat-seeking missiles like Javeleins and Stingers.
Pro-Russia militia members in Ukraine on Sunday. The Russian military occupation of the Ukraine has been hindered by supply line and geographical obstacles, as well as an impassioned Ukrainian fighting force
Hoffman, a Fox News contributor, went on to assert that the Ukrainians have been ‘bravely demonstrating how committed they are to fighting for their freedom and independence’ through their successful efforts to repel the Russian insurgency.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom Hoffman praised during his spiel, posted a video on Facebook Friday from the capital city of Kiev, which Russian forces have failed to seize despite coordinated attacks and bombings beginning Thursday, brazenly declaring, ‘We are all here.’
The president proclaimed: ‘Our military are here, our citizens and society are here. We are all here defending our independence, our state, and this is how it’s going to be.’
A Russian military vehicle is seen ablaze in Kharkiv on Sunday morning after troops entered the eastern Ukrainian city
A view of a residential building damaged by recent shelling in Kharkiv on February 26. Russia ordered its troops to advance in Ukraine ‘from all directions’ as the Ukrainian capital Kyiv imposed a blanket curfew and officials reported 198 civilian deaths
This map shows the strikes Russia is so-far known to have carried out against Ukraine, with more explosions rocking the country in the early hours of Sunday morning
After more fighting on Saturday night and Sunday morning, Russian forces still failed to capture the city – despite it being the first stop on Putin’s road to seizing the nation, which the Kremlin attests it is ‘liberating’ from an oppressive, ‘neo-Nazi,’ ‘facist’ government.
During an appearance on ABC’s ‘This Week’ Sunday, US Ukrainian Ambassador Oksana Markarova asserted that Zelensky is ‘as safe as our country’ and will ‘lead the nation in this very difficult moment.’
According to an Aljazeera report from last week, officials in Ukraine said more than 3,000 Russian troops have been killed so far in four days of conflict. The Ukrainian army meanwhile, has reportedly suffered roughly 250 causalities. An additional 350 Ukranian citizens have also been killed, according to reports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to engage in tentative peace talks of a potential with Putin Sunday afternoon
Those losses and the continued failure to seize Kyiv have left Vladimir Putin furious, according to Estonia’s former defense chief Riho Terras.
Terras wrote on Twitter: ‘ Putin is furious, he thought that the whole war would be easy and everything would be done in 1-4 days.
‘The Russians are in shock of the fierce resistance they have encountered.’
The defense expert went on to claim Russia was failing because it had failed to enact a ‘tactical plan’ and beyond expecting the attack to ‘sew panic among civilians and armed forces and force (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky to flee.’
Terras shared an image of a a piece of paper said to be a defense document which proclaimed: ‘Putin is raging. He was sure it would be a cake walk.’
President Zelensky and Putin are set to engage in tentative peace talks Sunday afternoon.
