CIA Director John Ratcliffe said he was “convinced” that Ukrainians “will fight with their bare hands” if there are no just conditions for lasting peace.
Ratcliffe said that Russia is gaining ground in the war, but he also stated that people have underestimated Ukraine’s ability to resist. He said his opinion comes from years of intelligence work and observation.
“Ukrainians will fight with their bare hands if forced to accept an unjust peace,” Ratcliffe said during a US Senate hearing on Tuesday, March 25.
President Donald Trump wants to end the war with a deal that ensures long-term peace. The CIA backs this effort, but Trump also knows that a Russian victory would be dangerous, Ratcliffe said.
Any peace deal would mean neither side gets everything they want, he said.
Two weeks ago, Ratcliffe had a phone call with Russia’s intelligence chief, Sergei Naryshkin – the first since Trump took office. This happened as US and Ukrainian officials met in Saudi Arabia on March 11, where Ukraine agreed to a 30-day ceasefire proposed by the US.
His latest comments came on the same day as the results of Riyadh negotiations marathon on March 23-25, where Washington, Kyiv, and Moscow had apparently agreed to ensure safe navigation and avoid using force in the Black Sea.
However, the Kremlin later said that Moscow would only agree to safe navigation in the Black Sea if sanctions were partially relieved.
Ukraine’s defense minister, Rustem Umerov, confirmed that Kyiv agreed to a Black Sea ceasefire in exchange for a promise that neither side would attack energy sites.
The Kremlin and Russia’s Defense Ministry said a temporary halt on attacks against energy facilities had been in place since March 18, when Trump and Putin had reached an agreement. However, the drone assaults in Ukraine have even intensified since then, with dozens of UAVs targeting residential areas and killing civilians across the country.