Russian President Vladimir Putin still wants to seize most of Ukraine, but his forces are so degraded by combat that they likely can only achieve incremental gains in the near term, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said. In the short term, the Russian troops are less likely to achieve a major breakthrough in Donbas and on other fronts, but the scenario of gradual territorial gains is in place. According to the top U.S. Intelligence official, it is very unlikely that the Ukrainian forces would retake the occupied territories, Reuters reports.

"Russia's special military operation in Ukraine is proceeding as planned and there is no need to set e deadline for an end to the operation", Russian President Vladimir Putin said. “Russia has no problem if Finland and Sweden join NATO”, Vladimir Putin said at the Caspian summit in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. “We don’t have problems with Sweden and Finland, like we do with Ukraine”, Putin said further.