By Lacity
The new strategy will shift the emphasis from reconquest to strengthening defense capabilities and the Ukrainian economy.
The United States of America does not expect significant success for Ukraine on the battlefield in 2024 and is preparing a new military plan. This is stated in an article in the Washington Post.
After last year’s failed counteroffensive, the Joe Biden administration is developing a new strategy that will shift the focus from regaining territory to helping Kyiv repel new Russian attacks, while moving toward the long-term goal of strengthening Ukraine’s defense capabilities and economy.
The new plan is very different from last year’s, when the United States and its allies sent modern equipment and provided training to Kyiv in the hope that this would help to quickly push back the Russian forces that occupied eastern and southern Ukraine, the newspaper writes. The efforts proved futile due to heavily fortified Russian defense lines.
“It’s quite obvious that it’s going to be difficult for them (the Ukrainians – ed.) to try to put the same kind of serious pressure on all fronts that they tried to create last year,” a senior White House official told WP.
Now the idea is to give Ukraine the opportunity to hold its ground on the battlefield and at the same time “to direct it to a different trajectory so that it becomes much stronger by the end of 2024,” “to put it on a more sustainable path,” the publication quotes its source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Most likely, if the counteroffensive is repeated, it will have the same result, which will be a demonstration of Putin’s strength, the publication suggests. So the allies are developing long-term plans. In particular, last week, the United Kingdom unveiled a 10-year agreement signed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. The French president is now expected to visit Ukraine.
But the success of this strategy depends almost entirely on the United States, the largest donor (of money and equipment) and the coordinator of multilateral efforts. This spring, the Biden administration hopes to publish its 10-year commitment, although the request for additional funding for Ukraine of $61 billion has not yet been approved by Congress.
Zelenskiy insists Ukraine is on the offensive. But US politicians who met with him privately recently say even Zelenskiy doubts how ambitious he will be in 2024 without clarity on US aid, WP says.
