"We’re also disrupting Russia’s attempts to smuggle Western tech; fending off its cyber attacks and countering reckless sabotage and assassination attempts," said Anne Keast-Butler, the director of GCHQ, the U.K.’s intelligence, cyber and security agency.
"And as we remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is going backwards on the battlefield, with new intelligence showing that almost half a million Russian soldiers have been killed since the conflict began," Keast-Butler said at Bletchley Park in a rare public address.
The estimate marks an uptick after then-MI6 chief Sir Richard Moore said in September that around 250,000 Russian soldiers had been killed since the Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked President Trump and Congress to send over Patriot missile systems as the nation braces for a heavy bombardment from Russia.
“Frankly, while we have achieved significant success in defending against all types of drones, Ukraine has not yet built its own capability to produce anti-missile defense systems,” Zelensky wrote in a 5-page letter.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Secretary of State Marco Rubio to evacuate U.S. personnel from Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, saying that Russia is planning on firing “systematic and consistent strikes,” according to the Kremlin's readout.
Keast-Butler also said that Russia is "scaling up" its hybrid methods of warfare - such as sabotage and deception - targeting infrastructure, supply chains, public trust and democratic processes.
"But let me be clear that in the face of such aggression and chaos, GCHQ is working tirelessly with intelligence and Defense partners to degrade and reduce the Russian threat," she said.
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