The administration of US President Joe Biden is developing a new plan for long-term support of Ukraine in the war against Russia. The strategy will shift the emphasis from recapturing the territories occupied by Russia to helping Ukraine repel new offensives by the occupiers, as well as strengthen the military and economy.
The Washington Post writes about it with reference to its own sources.
The new plan is significantly different from last year, when the US and its allies sent Kiev modern equipment and provided military training, counting on this to quickly push back the Russian forces occupying eastern and southern Ukraine. Efforts proved futile due to heavily fortified Russian defense lines, the publication writes.
"Itʼs clear that itʼs going to be difficult for them [the Ukrainians] to try to make the same major push on all fronts that they tried to do last year," a senior Biden administration official told reporters.
The idea of the plan is to give Ukraine the opportunity to maintain its positions on the battlefield and at the same time "transfer them to a different trajectory, so that by the end of 2024 Ukraine becomes "much stronger."
The US plan became part of the efforts of almost three dozen countries, each of which is preparing a document with specific obligations for Ukraine. Great Britain recently signed such an agreement — it will be valid for 10 years or until Ukraine joins NATO. France will be the next to sign a similar agreement, The Washington Post claims.
The US hopes to publish its agreement in the spring of 2024. The document, designed for 10 years, guarantees support for short-term military operations of the Armed Forces, as well as the creation of forces that will be able to deter Russian aggression. At the same time, it is emphasized that the possibility of implementing the American support plan depends on whether the US Congress will allocate funds to help Ukraine.
The new strategy does not mean that the Ukrainians will simply build defensive trenches and wait for the Russians there, according to the interlocutors of the publication. The Washington Post writes that both sides will continue to "exchange territories" — small settlements with "low strategic value," missile and drone attacks. The Russians will continue to try to destroy Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.
The West hopes that in 2024, Ukraine will avoid losing territory and focus on the tactics that have proven to be most successful so far — firing at distant Russian targets, deterring Russiaʼs Black Sea Fleet and Russian forces in Crimea with missile strikes and sabotage.
- Earlier, the spokesman of the US State Department, Matthew Miller, said that the US will not always support Ukraineʼs military funding at the level of 2022-2023, as it seeks to help Kyiv develop its own military-industrial base. The plan is for Ukraine to be able to independently finance, produce and purchase weapons.