Ukraine's President called out bad Russian intel, saying officials 'deceived themselves' into thinking they could quickly capture Ukraine

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia made a huge mistake in expecting to capture Ukraine quickly.
• He said one month after the invasion began that Russia had "deceived themselves."

Ukraine's President said Russian officials had "deceived themselves" in thinking that Ukraine would quickly fall to Russia, as Russia's progress remains stalled in its brutal invasion.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared a video address on March 24 — a month since Russia's invasion of Ukraine started.

He said in his address: "A month has passed. We withstood six times longer than the enemy had planned, than the Russian command had reported to the Russian president.'

US and UK and other Western countries have produced intelligence assessments that Russia expected to make quick progress in capturing Ukraine. Instead its war effort has stalled amid fierce Ukrainian resistance and apparent problems with logistics, planning, and coordination among the Russian forces.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Russia's defense minister had predicted Russia could defeat Ukraine in just a few days.

Russia expert Andrei Soldatov gave a similar assessment in an article by Insider's Tom Porter. Soldatov said that Vladimir Putin and his circle appeared to have convinced themselves that Ukraine would not put up a fight, and is now looking for people to punish and blame for having given such an inaccurate picture.

Zelenskyy in his speech riffed on a similarly bleak Russian view of his country: "They were convinced that Ukraine is not a state. They were convinced that Ukrainians are not a nation. They deceived themselves."

"But we don't care about them. This is their state suicide. And we are just protecting our lives. Our freedom. Our own state. Our children. Hence, our future.

This is a war for independence. And we must win."