Vladimir Putin’s advisers are scared to tell him the truth about the progress of his Ukraine invasion but the extent of the Russian leader’s “misjudgments” must be “crystal clear to the regime”, Sir Jeremy Fleming has said. In a rare public address during a visit to Australia, the head of Britain’s GCHQ spy agency said the Russian president had “massively misjudged the situation”. And he warned China not to become “too closely aligned” with the Kremlin. He said of Mr Putin: “It’s clear he misjudged the resistance of the Ukrainian people. He under-estimated the strength of the coalition his actions would galvanise. "He under-played the economic consequences of the sanctions regime. He over-estimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory."