US Intelligence agencies predict that the combat in Ukraine will continue to wane through the upcoming winter.

However, according to US head of intelligence Avril Haines, there hasn’t been any indication of Ukrainian forces’ resistance weakening.

Both sides, according to her, would endeavour to “refit, replenish, and reconstitute” for any springtime counteroffensive.

The crucial energy infrastructure of Ukraine had already been attacked by Russia.

Even though Russia has lost more than half of the territory it had conquered, the war in Ukraine is already in its ninth month.

The majority of the combat is presently taking place near the eastern Ukrainian cities of Bakhmut and Donetsk, Ms. Haines stated at a defence symposium in California.

Following Russia’s departure of soldiers from the west of the Kherson region last month, she said that combat had subsided.

The panel’s moderator, Andrea Mitchell of NBC News, said, “We’re witnessing a kind of decreased tempo of the war now… and we believe that’s likely to be what we see in the coming months.”

She claimed that after the winter, both the forces of Russia and Ukraine will be seeking to get ready for any counteroffensive.

But we truly do have some doubts about whether the Russians will actually be willing to do that, she added.

“I have a more positive outlook for the Ukrainians during that period.”

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According to Ms. Haines, US intelligence believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin is now unaware of the full extent of his military’s difficulties.

“We observe ammo shortages, morale problems, supply problems, logistics, and a host of other issues that they are dealing with.”

Although they questioned if the frigid temperatures may support “a quicker pace of operations as winter sets in,” analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) presented a different image in a daily evaluation.

Serhiy Haidai, the regional governor of Ukraine in Luhansk, made remarks that the weather in the eastern Donbas region was changing as winter conditions arrived, which were reported by the institute.

The ISW had previously said that operations in the Donbas will not slow down since wintertime is “the best time of year for mechanised manoeuvre combat.”

On the other hand, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that a price ceiling imposed on Russian oil exports by his Western partners was “weak” and that it was not “severe” enough to harm the Russian economy.

The cap, which is set to take effect on Monday, aims to prevent nations from paying more than $60 (£48) a barrel for Russian crude oil that is transported by sea.

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, stated that although Moscow had planned for the action, it would not sell its oil under the quota.

A club of the major oil-producing nations in the world is anticipated to adhere to its oil output objectives at a virtual summit on Sunday.

The Opec+ group, which consists of nations such as Russia and the United Arab Emirates, decided to restrict output by two million barrels per day beginning in November in an effort to support higher oil prices during their most recent ministerial meeting in October.

The United States and other Western countries were offended by the action, and Washington accused the organisation of siding with Russia.

Because of sluggish global growth and increased interest rates, oil prices have fallen since October. According to Opec sources, the group will probably consent to a policy rollover.

The government of Kyiv is reportedly applying penalties against 10 top members of the Orthodox Church who it claims were complicit in Russia’s invasion, according to the security agency of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian government’s most recent action against religious organisations deemed potentially subversive is the imposition of sanctions that will freeze their assets for five years.

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