Russia Has 'Little Prospect' of Winning in Ukraine: U.K. Spy Chief

Moscow has "little prospect" of winning the war in Ukraine, the head of the U.K.'s intelligence service has said.

Speaking in the Czech Republic, the head of MI6, Richard Moore, said there "appears now to be little prospect of the Russian forces regaining momentum."

"In the last month, Ukraine has liberated more territory than Russia captured in the last year," Moore added, giving a speech at the British Embassy in Prague.

Ukraine is about six weeks into its summer counteroffensive, which Moscow said began in early June. Ukraine has made small gains along the front lines in southern and eastern Ukraine, with little sign Kyiv will let up in its operations any time soon.

But Russian forces are also ramping up their offensive efforts, the U.S. think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, said on Tuesday. In a post to social media on Tuesday, Ukraine's Deputy Defense Minister, Hanna Maliar, said "the initiative is already on our side" around the Kupiansk area in eastern Ukraine, adding Moscow's "offensive in the Kupiansk direction is currently unsuccessful."

However, Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces had advanced "up to 2 kilometers" (1.2 miles) along the front near Kupiansk, without specifying further where on the front line it had made these gains.

Fierce battles are continuing for the decimated Donetsk city of Bakhmut, one of the highest-profile battles of the war.

Experts and officials have said the counteroffensive will claim many lives on both sides, and the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said on Wednesday that Moscow was directing reserves to Bakhmut and "suffers enormous losses."

In an open appeal to Russian citizens on Wednesday, Moore invited those who "are watching in horror" to join the U.K.'s ranks against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Many have already joined London's intelligence operations, he said.

"There are many Russians today who are silently appalled by the sight of their armed forces pulverising Ukrainian cities, expelling innocent families from their homes, and kidnapping thousands of children," Moore said.

"They are watching in horror as their soldiers ravage a kindred country," he continued. "They know in their hearts that Putin's case for attacking a fellow Slavic nation is fraudulent, a miasma of lies and fantasy."

The U.K.'s "door is always open," the spy chief said, adding: "I invite them to do what others have already done this past 18 months and join hands with us."

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.