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WH’s New Strategy on Ukraine ‘Will De-Emphasize’ Retaking ‘Lost Territory’ – Report

06:51 GMT, 27 January 2024
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Oleg Burunov
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Washington and its allies, who supplied arms to Kiev, have failed to prevent the collapse of Ukraine's summer counteroffensive.
Sputnik
The Biden administration's new strategy will "de-emphasize" Kiev's recovery of the so-called "lost territories" this year and instead focus on Washington helping the Zelensky regime survive amid Russia's ongoing special military operation, the Washington Post quoted unnamed sources as saying.
The sources were apparently referring to the territories previously reunited with Russia as a result of popular referendums.
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They claimed that the Biden administration, "still smarting" from Kiev's bungled counteroffensive in 2023, is "putting together the new strategy," which includes helping the Zelensky regime strengthen its armed forces and economy in the face of the Ukraine funding impasse in the U.S. Congress.

The strategy's other purpose is to help Kiev strengthen its fighting force and economy in the face of Ukraine funding-real impasse in the US Congress, according to the sources.
“The emerging plan is a sharp change from last year, when the US and allied militaries rushed training and sophisticated equipment to Kiev in hopes that it could quickly push back Russian forces,” insiders pointed out.

One source added that “it’s pretty clear” that it will be difficult for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to try to achieve “the same kind of major push on all fronts that they tried to do last year.”

The idea is help Ukraine “hold its position on the battlefield for now, […] and “get them on a more sustainable path,” per the source.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu declared in late December that the Russian armed forces had achieved last year's main goal by thwarting Ukraine's summer counteroffensive.

"The main efforts of the past year were focused on achieving the goals of the special military operation. The main one was to stop the counter-offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which was loudly proclaimed by Ukraine and its NATO allies. This task was successfully accomplished," Shoigu emphasized at the time.

The statement came after Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov told reporters that Ukraine had lost some 160,000 troops and over 3,000 armored vehicles, including 766 tanks, as well as 121 aircraft and 23 helicopters in all areas during the six-month counteroffensive.
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