Bloomberg sources told how and with whom Putin made the decision to invade Ukraine

Kyiv /21.04.22/UNIAN: The decision on a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine was made by Russian President Vladimir Putin together with several "hawks".

Among them are Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Secretary of the Security Council Nikolai Patrushev, Bloomberg writes.

According to the agency, in the weeks after the invasion began, Putin's circle of advisers and contacts narrowed even more compared to the limited group of hardliners with whom he regularly consulted before.

The limited information contributed to the fact that the Kremlin miscalculated in the first days of the offensive, betting on broader support from Ukrainian troops and officials, as well as on a faster military advance, the note says. The Russian President also underestimated his Ukrainian counterpart, whom he considered weak.

According to the interlocutors of the publication, even despite the military setbacks and economic difficulties caused by sanctions, Putin is still determined to continue the fight, even if he had to moderate his ambitions from a quick, large-scale seizure of most of the country to a grueling battle for the Donbass region in the east.