Ukraine might have gotten their long-awaited US support final month, however a counteroffensive towards Russia will not be on the playing cards till 2025, says US nationwide safety advisor Jake Sullivan.
Ukraine, Sullivan stated, will nonetheless be capable to “maintain the road” and stand up to Russian assaults by way of 2024 with the help that is coming from the US. However Sullivan stated he nonetheless expects “Russian advances within the coming interval” as it would take a while for US support to succeed in Ukraine.
“You’ll be able to’t immediately flip the change,” Sullivan informed competition attendees.
A counteroffensive, the place Ukraine can “transfer ahead to recapture the territory that the Russians have taken from them,” will solely happen in 2025, Sullivan stated.
Ukraine’s protection ministry did not instantly reply to a request for remark from BI despatched exterior common enterprise hours.
Sullivan’s remarks on the struggle come at a precarious time for Ukraine. Moreover coping with repeated calls from the GOP to halt US support, the nation can be warding off an invigorated Russian military.
“The military is definitely now bigger — by 15 % — than it was when it invaded Ukraine,” US Military Gen. Christopher Cavoli stated in a Home Armed Companies Committee listening to on April 10.
“The severity of this second can’t be overstated: If we don’t proceed to help Ukraine, Ukraine may lose,” stated Cavoli, who can be NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe.
Final month, the Home of Representatives lastly permitted greater than $60 billion in support to Ukraine. The invoice was delayed for months attributable to staunch GOP opposition. The truth is, when the invoice was handed on April 20, 112 Republicans voted towards it.
In keeping with the Institute for the Examine of Warfare, the incoming support will present little fast aid for the Ukrainians.
This, the ISW stated, is as a result of the Russians are nonetheless capable of “benefit from the restricted window earlier than the arrival of latest US support” to ramp up their assaults.
“The frontline state of affairs will due to this fact seemingly proceed to deteriorate in that point,” the US assume tank wrote.
