Russian elites and senior security officials are frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to wage a full-scale war in Ukraine with half-hearted measures and are increasingly concerned about the timeline in which Putin intends to end the war.
This is stated in the daily analysis of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Senior Russian security officials appear to believe that Russia should step up its war in Ukraine, rather than seek a negotiated solution.
The diagnosis of the main problem with Russia’s conduct of the war reported by the Russian elite is inaccurate, as Russia’s inability to restore maneuverability on the battlefield – not a shortage of manpower – is the main factor causing Russia's relatively slow pace of progress.
The publication in "Meduza" shows that the Russian security elite - as well as Putin himself - is not interested in a peaceful negotiated solution to the war in the near future.
Russian officials continue to indicate that the Kremlin intends to continue the militarization of the Russian government and Russian society in the long term.
A source in the Russian presidential administration told "Meduza" that the Russian elites, mainly high-ranking security officials, are increasingly frustrated that they do not have "enough" manpower and material resources to wage the war, and they believe that Putin must conduct a "mobilization" and completely transfer Russian society and the Russian economy to a military basis.
Two sources close to the presidential administration note that the Russian government currently has no clear vision for a post-war Russia and that the end of the war could prove to be "critical" for the presidential administration if it cannot define a clear narrative and political framework for Russian society after the war.
A Russian opposition investigative body reported that Russian authorities have turned the pre-trial detention center (SIZO) in Taganrog, Voronezh Oblast, into a torture center for Ukrainian prisoners of war and detained Ukrainian civilians.
The UN has condemned the recent wave of Russian executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Russian forces have recently advanced near Borova and Pokrovsk.
Ukrainian forces have recently advanced near Sudzha, Kursk Oblast.
Ukraine's Western partners reaffirmed their support for Ukraine and their commitment to the development of the Ukrainian defense industrial base (DIB) during a meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine's Defense at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on January 9.
Ukraine's Western partners announced additional military aid packages.