The head of Britain's intelligence agency says some Russian troops in Ukraine have refused to obey orders and accidentally shot down their own plane.
Reuters quoted Jeremy Fleming, head of the British government's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), as saying that some Russian soldiers had also smashed their equipment.
According to the report, Jeremy Fleming said that "President Putin has made erroneous estimates, he has misjudged the capabilities of the Russian forces and he has made mistakes regarding the resistance of the Ukrainian troops." The same mistakes led to sanctions against Moscow.
"We are convinced that Putin's advisers are afraid to tell him the truth," Fleming said at a ceremony at the National University of Canberra in Australia.
He further added that there was strong evidence that the morale of Russian troops had dropped and that they lacked the necessary equipment.
"We saw for ourselves that the soldiers have less and they are refusing to obey orders and are destroying their own equipment while accidentally shooting down their own ship."
Reuters also clarified that it could not independently verify the GCHQ's claim.
In addition to the US National Security Agency, the GCHQ, which collects information on the UK's defense from around the world, has close ties to the Australian, Canadian and New Zealand agencies, known as the Five Eyes.
Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, says its military is fully professional and is successfully fulfilling its responsibilities in Ukraine.
According to Russia, "the West wants to humiliate Russia by spreading false information about the operation."
The United States estimates that Russia has a problem with 60 percent of its guided missiles.
US intelligence officials told Reuters that his advisers were not providing accurate information to the Russian president.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says military action in Ukraine was necessary because the United States was using it against Russia and that we had taken steps to protect Russian-speaking people in Ukraine.
On the other hand, Ukraine's position is that it is fighting against the occupiers of the land in an imperialist manner.
Russia's February 24 attack on Ukraine has killed thousands, displaced millions, and raised fears of a direct confrontation between the United States and Russia. Have increased
