Russia close to achieving goals in Ukraine war: Putin's spy chief

He says Moscow has strategic initiative in all areas while Kyiv's forces close to collapse

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Russian President Vladimir Putin's foreign intelligence chief said on Dec 10 that the country was close to achieving its goals in Ukraine with Moscow holding what he said was the strategic initiative in all areas in the war.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 has left tens of thousands dead, displaced millions and triggered the biggest crisis in relations between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

"The situation on the front is not in Kyiv's favour," Mr Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, told Razvedchik, the official publication of the foreign intelligence agency.

"The strategic initiative in all areas belongs to us, we are close to achieving our goals, while the armed forces of Ukraine are on the verge of collapse," Mr Naryshkin said.