The UK intelligence chief said that Putin's advisors were not telling him the truth about the setbacks his military had in Ukraine.
In a speech in Australia on Thursday, Jeremy Fleming said that Putin had made a mistake before launching Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
He said that Putin made mistakes about the strength of the opposition, how the West would react, and how hard sanctions would hit Russia.
He said that even though Putin's advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, what's going on and the extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime.
It all adds up to a strategic miscalculation that our leaders warned of. It has become his personal war, with the cost being paid by innocent people in Ukraine and ordinary Russians too.
US officials gave briefings on Wednesday that said that Putin was being misled by top officials who were too afraid to give accurate information.
Kate Bedingfield, director of communications at the White House, said that they have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military, which resulted in persistent tension between Putin and his military leadership.
We believe that Putin is being misled by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions because his senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth.
The same story was told by top US intelligence officials.
As the Russian death toll mounted, Putin is said to have lashed out at top officials, including the two foreign intelligence chiefs who were placed under house arrest.
Insider was told by a Russia expert that the Kremlin was looking for traitors within the security agency.
A former British military intelligence official told Insider that reprisals against some Russian leaders were likely meant as a signal to others that the consequences for failure in Ukraine will be severe.
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