US intelligence analysts believe that Ukraine has given up on its counteroffensive against Russia and the only thing prolonging the conflict is the unwillingness of Washington and Kiev to acknowledge its failure, a source has told investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.
Writing on Substack on Thursday, the veteran reporter cited an unnamed source, who "spent the early years of his career working against Soviet aggression and spying" as rejecting the Ukrainian narrative about slow but steady progress in its counteroffensive:
"'It's all lies. The war is over. Russia has won. There is no Ukrainian offensive anymore, but the White House and the American media have to keep the lie going.'"This sentiment is shared by many figures in the US intelligence community, and the CIA in particular has been skeptical of Kiev's claims of a continued push forward, unlike the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), he explained.
Trent Maul, the director of analysis for the DIA, touted Ukraine's success to The Economist earlier this month and claimed Kiev's forces had a "realistic" chance to break through Russian defense lines this year. The British outlet contrasted the assessment with that of an unnamed senior US intelligence official, who said the battlefield "could look broadly similar" in five years.
The source cited by Hersh blasted the leadership in both Moscow and Washington for acting "stupid" during the crisis. Russian President Vladimir Putin got "provoked [into] violating the UN charter" with a poorly-prepared military campaign, he argued. US President Joe Biden retaliated with a proxy war and has had to rely on the vilification of Putin by the media "in order to justify our mistake."
"The truth is if the Ukrainian army is ordered to continue the offensive, the army would mutiny. The soldiers aren't willing to die any more, but this doesn't fit the B.S. that is being authored by the Biden White House."
Comment: So far, they are so ordered and die.
Moscow has denied the US claim that the operation against Ukraine was an act of "unprovoked aggression," insisting that the people of Donbas had the right of self-determination under the UN Charter and acted accordingly when they broke away from Ukraine after the 2014 armed coup in Kiev.
The Russian government has maintained that it acted lawfully when it recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics in February 2022. Days later, after Kiev refused to stop attacks on Donbas and pull out its troops, Moscow launched its offensive.
Comment: There is more to this war's underbelly than will ever be revealed, considering we are privy to its cover story and astute enough to identify it as such. Those who have died - know not for what, as 'truths' are merely tools. The time to have settled this was before it began.