US officials believe Ukraine may not be able to win back regions lost to Russia: Report

Authorities in the White House are losing confidence that Ukraine will ever be able to win back all the land it lost to Russian forces since the onset of the ongoing war, US officials told CNN even though America and its allies are funnelling heavier and more sophisticated weaponry to the war-torn country. According to the report, President Joe Biden’s advisers have started debating how and if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy should shift the definition of his nation’s “victory”. The discussions are also happening around the fact that whether Zelenskyy should adjust to the possibility of his country shrinking irreversibly. 

American officials told CNN that the pessimistic assessment of the US regarding the Russia-Ukraine war is not intended to pressure Kyiv into making any formal concessions to Russia in a bid to end the conflict, the report noted. Notably, there is also hope that Ukrainian forces will be able to take back significant territory in a counteroffensive later this year. A congressional aide familiar with the deliberations told the US media outlet that a smaller Ukrainian state is not inevitable.

The aide told the media outlet, “Whether Ukraine can take back these territories is in large part, if not entirely, a function of how much support we give them”. He further informed that Ukraine had formally asked the US for a minimum of 48 multiple launch rocket systems, however, Pentagon has only promised eight. The mounting despondency in the US came as Biden was meeting with US allies in Europe where he is expected to boast about the West’s united strength against Russia and support for Ukraine. 

"We have to stay together. Putin has been counting on from the beginning, that somehow NATO and the G7 would splinter, but we haven't and we're not going to," Biden said Sunday while at the G7 summit in the Bavarian Alps.

US Commandos operating in Kyiv to share intel with Ukraine forces

The US has remained steadfast in its support for Kyiv ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special” operation in Ukraine. In a major revelation pertaining to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, some Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) personnel have continued to secretly operate mostly in Kyiv, and have shared intelligence between US and Ukraine. According to a New York Times report, the operatives have been involved in an intelligence-sharing operation between Washington and Kyiv despite US President Joe Biden publicly maintaining that it will not deploy American troops in the war-torn nation. 

The report also stated that apart from CIA agents, a few dozen commandos from other NATO nations including the UK, France, Canada and Lithuania, have also been working inside Ukraine, training and advising troops. Citing US officials, NYT stated that it is these foreign operatives who have been providing an “on-the-ground conduit” for weapons and other aid directed at Ukraine by Western nations to deter Russian forces.

Even before Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a ‘special’ military operation in Ukraine in late February and the Ukraine war came to a head, the US Army’s 10th Special Forces Group had been training Ukrainian commandos at a base in Western Ukraine. But, after February 24, the operatives established a coalition “planning cell” in Germany, the report stated. This so-called “cell” was aimed at coordinating the military aid being transferred to Ukrainian troops and since then, it has been augmented by a number of commandos from other NATO member nations.

Image: AP