Russian President Vladimir Putin

was misled by advisers who were too scared to tell him how poorly the war in Ukraine is going and how damaging Western sanctions have been, White House and European officials said.

^{via The Independent}

• Furthermore: Demoralized Russian soldiers in Ukraine were refusing to carry out orders and sabotaging their own equipment, and even accidentally shot down their own aircraft, a UK intelligence chief said. Jeremy Fleming, who heads the GCHQ electronic spy agency, said Russian President Vladimir Putin had apparently "massively misjudged the invasion.