The Us Estimates That Ukraine Has Removed More Than A Hundred High Value Russian Targets.

British spy chief Richard Moore said Russia is about to “run out of steam” in Ukraine, in an interview with CNN’s Jim Ciuto. “The Russians will find it increasingly difficult to supply manpower, material in the coming weeks. They should be stopped and that will give the Ukrainians an opportunity to fight back,” Moore, the head of MI6, said in the interview, his first outside the UK. “(Putin) suffered a strategic failure in Ukraine” and forces lost 15,000 lives, Moore said on the sidelines of the Aspen Security Forum, adding that it was “probably a conservative estimate.” However, Moore said it was very important for the morale of the Ukrainians to demonstrate their ability to fight back. “It will be an important reminder to the rest of Europe that this is a winnable campaign for the Ukrainians. Because we’re going into a pretty tough winter.” “Winter is coming and clearly, in this atmosphere with the kind of pressure on natural gas supplies and all that, we’re in for a tough time,” Moore added. He said that after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, European countries have made concerted efforts against Russian intelligence. “North of 400 Russian intelligence officers working under diplomatic cover have been expelled” and has halved Russia’s ability to spy on Europe. When asked about rumors of Putin’s ill health, Moore said: “There is no evidence that Putin is suffering from a serious illness.” His comments came after the expulsion of more than 400 Russian intelligence officers from cities across Europe and the arrest of several deep-cover spies posing as civilians. Moore told CNN that since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, European countries have expelled “north of 400 Russian intelligence officers operating under diplomatic cover” across the bloc. “And we reckon, in the UK, that’s probably cut their ability to do their business to spy for Russia in Europe in half,” Moore said. He added that a number of “illegals”, or Russian spies operating under deep cover and masquerading as ordinary citizens, have also been exposed and arrested in recent months. Asked whether the war in Ukraine has made Russia a “rich target environment” for the UK and its allies to recruit potential assets, Moore would only say that “it is our hope” that Russian intelligence and diplomatic services will “think about what they are witnessing in Ukraine” and decide to “fight back against the system”, as many did during the Prague Spring in 1968. Read more here.