In her first public comments since May on the US intelligence assessment of the war, Ms Haines suggested Russia's invasion would grind on "for an extended period of time" and that "the picture remains pretty grim".

She said intelligence agencies see three scenarios of how the war could play out, the most likely being a slow moving conflict with Russia making "incremental gains, with no breakthrough".

The other, less likely possibilities include a major Russian breakthrough, or a stabilisation of the frontlines with Ukraine achieving small gains.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61990495