The Biden administration wants Ukraine to switch its strategy in the ongoing proxy war against Russia “from offense to defense,” Andreas Kluth, a columnist for Bloomberg, has written.
Ukraine botched the counteroffensive launched last summer despite the billions' worth of NATO military aid, "frustrating Washington." Hence, the regime in Kiev is to get new instructions from its "puppet-masters."
The new "assignment" from the White House is reportedly to be delivered by US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan as he meets with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Russia’s forces are "too well dug in, and the Ukrainians have lost too many soldiers and used up too much ammo," the columnist admitted.
"Offense is always harder than defense, but for Ukraine it may now be out of the question," he noted succinctly.
But even the defense tactic will only work if the US, Europe "keep sending drones, missiles and bullets," Kluth noted, as enthusiasm for propping up Kiev wanes.
"There can be no optimism in Davos" on Ukraine this year, the columnist summed up.
Zelensky, who continues to be in denial over Ukraine’s battlefield results (or rather, lack thereof) will not like what he hears from Sullivan, the author surmised. However, he can be expected to slug down that bitter-tasting edict and continue what he does best: harangue Western allies over insufficient aid.
More and more officials in the United States are questioning the efficacy of spending astronomical sums of money to support Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"We see that internal debates and internal processes continue in the United States, more and more representatives of the political establishment are interested in, well, probably such a fundamental question — where is their money, the money of American taxpayers, spent, and whether the astronomical sums that were spent for last year were allocated to the Kiev regime. Did these amounts help achieve any results?" Peskov told reporters.
Meanwhile, the Russian ArmedForces have fulfilled the main goal of 2023 by thwarting Ukraine's counteroffensive, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in late December. He added that the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost more than 125,000 people and 16,000 units of weapons over the six-month counteroffensive.
Moscow officials have repeatedly stressed that arms supplies to Ukraine will not affect the course of the special military operation, but only fuel the conflict.