The US has apparently accepted that the war in Ukraine will last for a long time and plans to increase military aid – WP
The Washington Post writes that the United States seems to have accepted the prospect that there will be no radical changes in the situation on the frontline by winter and that Ukraine will not be able to cut the land border to Crimea and drive Russian occupation forces out of the south of the country.
Therefore, Washington is going to increase military assistance to Ukraine so that it can continue to liberate its territories next year. In addition to the already announced F-16 aircraft, it is likely that Ukraine will be able to receive long-range cluster munitions, such as those for HIMARS.
The source claims to have repeatedly heard this intention from his sources at all levels of government in the United States, despite the frustration of some Western and Ukrainian politicians, the population and society with the pace of the counteroffensive.
“U.S. officials believe that strategic patience remains the best weapon against Russian President Vladimir Putin, who still believes he can hold out longer than Ukraine and the West,” the article says.
The US side also has many comments on the Ukrainian strategy. According to the newspaper, officials are urging Kyiv to concentrate more on breaking through Russian defenses in the Azov Sea, rather than spreading out to the east. They also believe that the Ukrainians use too much artillery ammunition, particularly 155mm shells, and rely too much on aerial reconnaissance instead of ground operations.
Kyiv points out that this strategy is due to the extremely large amount of mined territory by the Russians and the containment of thousands of occupation troops in the eastern direction, which can go on the offensive at any time.
But despite the disagreements and discussions, Washington intends not only to continue supporting Ukraine, but also to significantly increase it.
“There is growing support in Washington for providing, for example, cluster munitions for rocket artillery that can strike deeper than the simple artillery version that the United States began shipping last month,” the article says.
The United States is also“working hard to plan” Ukraine’s“force of the future” – a fleet of F-16s, the first of which could be delivered to Ukraine in a few months.
Ukraine continues to call on the United States to provide it with ATACMS – long-range missiles. But so far, the Pentagon is resisting. According to the publication, the main reason is that the US is not sure that it will have enough ATACMS in the event of a confrontation with China.
The publication compares the war in Ukraine to the American Revolution, when the United States won independence in a war with Britain that lasted eight years.
“Along the way, there were many periods of demoralization, bad-mouthing, complaints about insufficient support from abroad, and sometimes despair. But the rebels remained on the battlefield, and the British eventually retreated, – the publication concludes. – A season of discontent and mutual accusations from all sides has begun in Ukraine due to the sluggish counteroffensive. But this war is far from over“.
Unfortunately, Russia has a very large population compared to Ukraine, and Putin’s goal is to drag out the war, destroying more of Ukraine’s population and eventually overwhelming them in numbers. Ukraine’s strategy at this time is to minimize the loss of its combat potential in terms of people and force the Russians to retreat under the pressure of more technological warfare and range. And such a strategy takes time.
