U.S. expects reduced tempo in Ukraine fighting to continue for months

Service members with the Ukrainian Army's 24th Mechanized Brigade of King Danylo fire an artillery piece, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, near Bakhmut in Ukraine, December 3, 2022. REUTERS/ Leah Millis

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence expects the reduced tempo in fighting in Ukraine to continue in the next several months and sees no evidence of a reduced Ukrainian will to resist, despite attacks on its power grid and other critical winter infrastructure, the Director of National Intelligence said on Saturday.

"We're seeing a kind of a reduced tempo already of the conflict ... and we expect that's likely to be what we see in the coming months," Avril Haines told the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in California.