US Plans for Ukraine Focus on Defense This Year: Washington Post


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The new US strategy to support Ukraine is aimed not at trying to regain control of its lost territories in 2024, but at defense and strengthening its military and economy, The Washington Post reported citing sources from US officials.

"Still smarting from last year’s failed counteroffensive in Ukraine, the Biden administration is putting together a new strategy that will de-emphasize winning back territory and focus instead on helping Ukraine fend off new Russian advances while moving toward a long-term goal of strengthening its fighting force and economy," the newspaper wrote, TASS reported.

According to it, "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."

"It’s pretty clear that it will be difficult for them to try to mount the same kind of major push on all fronts that they tried to do last year," a senior administration official told the newspaper, adding that "The idea now is to position Ukraine to hold its position on the battlefield for now, but "put them on a different trajectory to be much stronger by the end of 2024 … and get them on a more sustainable path."

According to the article, the US expects that this will be possible with the active support of Ukraine by other countries, including the UK and France.