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Ukraine will seek to launch a new counteroffensive in 2025 after receiving $61 billion in U.S. military aid to help it prevent Russia from making further progress this year, said Jake Sullivan, the U.S. adviser to national security.
Speaking at the FT Weekend Festival in Washington on Saturday, Sullivan said he still expects “Russian advances in the coming period” on the battlefield, despite the new US funding plan approved last month, because “you can’t instantly flip the switch.” .
But he added that with Washington’s new aid, kyiv would have the capacity to “hold the course” and “ensure that Ukraine resists the Russian onslaught” during 2024.
And discussing the scenario of next year’s war, Sullivan said Ukraine intends to “move forward to regain the territory that the Russians took from them.”
His comments on a possible Ukraine counteroffensive represent the White House’s clearest expression of how it sees the conflict evolving if President Joe Biden is re-elected in November.
Any new Ukraine offensive in 2025 would depend on increased funding from Congress and approval from the White House.
But Donald Trump, the former president and presumptive Republican nominee, has been skeptical of aid to Ukraine and has pledged to try to end the conflict quickly and seek a negotiated settlement.
Ukrainian officials have expressed hope that they can reverse the trend next year.
Speaking to German newspaper Bild last month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there was a plan for another counter-offensive, but that it depended on more weapons, including from the United States.
But with much-needed supplies and weapons on their way to the front lines after U.S. aid was approved last month, resolving Ukraine’s personnel shortage is crucial to its chances against Russia.
Many Ukrainians refused to join the mobilization campaign that began almost a year ago, citing fear of poor commanders and a lack of weapons.
Ukrainian leaders tried to solve these problems by combining more liberal recruitment methods and better conditions for soldiers. But it remains to be seen what impact this and the new aid plans will have on the mood.
