Top U.S. intelligence agency officials offered a sobering assessment of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s objectives in Ukraine, and how the invasion could affect the safety and security of the United States, writes ABC NEWS.

"The [Intelligence Community], as you know, provided warning of President Putin’s plans, but this is a case where I think all of us wish we had been wrong”, - Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the House Intelligence Committee at its annual hearing on worldwide threats.

“We assess Putin feels aggrieved. The West has not given proper deference and perceives this as a war he cannot afford to lose”, - she said.

CIA Director William Burns, a former U.S. ambassador to Moscow who has studied Putin for years, concurred that the Russian president is “angry and frustrated” by the situation in Ukraine, and will likely step up his efforts.

"He’s likely to double down and try to grind down the Ukrainian military with no regard for civilian casualties. He has no sustainable political endgame in the face of what is going to continue to be fierce resistance from Ukrainians. Putin has commented privately and publicly over the years that he doesn’t believe Ukraine’s a real country. He’s dead wrong about that - real countries fight back. And that’s what the Ukrainians have done quite heroically over the last 12 days”, - Burns continued.