According to several European and American officials, Ukraine reportedly has only five months to demonstrate some “advances” to its Western backers to convince them to continue the flow of military material to the Kiev regime for the conflict with Moscow.
“Ukraine has five months to demonstrate some ‘advances’ to the U.S. and other Western backers, to convince them of its plans for the conflict with Russia, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing several European and American officials.
Washington is entering an election cycle and has to show that the massive military support the U.S. and its allies have been providing to Ukraine has not been in vain, the paper also said.
‘It is important for America to sell this war as a successful one, as well as for domestic purposes to prove that all of those aid packages have been successful in terms of Ukrainian advances’, a European official told the FT.
According to FT sources, Washington believes the next five months are critical to the outcome of the conflict. ‘If we get to September and Ukraine has not made significant gains, then the international pressure on [the West] to bring them to negotiations will be enormous’, another source told the FT, on condition of anonymity.
The Western military support for Kiev is also about to reach its limits, the sources warned. ‘The message [to Kiev] is basically that this is the best you’re going to get’, a European official told the paper. ‘There’s no more flexibility in the U.S. budget to keep writing checks, and European arms factories are running at full capacity’.
The U.S. continues to be Ukraine’s biggest backer when it comes to arms supplies. Washington’s allies are concerned about its capacity to maintain that support and expect it to decrease in 2024 amid a U.S. presidential election. ‘We can’t keep the same level of assistance forever’, a European official said, adding that the current level of support might be sustained for a year or two but no longer”. -RT
The Russians have always been perfectly willing to wait as long as it takes for their enemies eventually wear thin.
Whether NATO sets a deadline of strict five months in the future or delays the inevitable and completely exhausts itself before surrendering to Russia, rather than launch a large-scale offensive, all the Russians need to do is hold their current positions in order to deplete the Ukrainian military and win the war against their NATO adversaries.