Ukraine Prepares New Counter-Offensive: Biden Administration Unveils Details

The US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has named the key condition.

Ukraine will look to launch a counteroffensive in 2025 with the support of the approved $61 billion aid package from the United States, as well as additional Western aid funding, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told the Financial Times.

He noted that he still expects “Russian progress in the near term” on the battlefield despite a new US funding package approved in April because “you can't flip the switch right away”.

Speaking at the FT Weekend in Washington on Saturday, May 4, Sullivan noted that with incoming U.S. weapons supplies, Ukraine will have the capacity to “hold the line” during the year 2024 and “guarantee that Ukraine will be able to withstand the Russian attack.”

Sullivan echoed Ukraine's hopes that the country will "move forward to recapture the territory that the Russians have taken”.

The publication notes that the clearest such articulation as to how the Biden administration sees the war evolving in the coming months, in case of the re-election of Joe Biden as President in November.

The Financial Times notes that any new Ukrainian offensive would require additional military aid from Western allies, including the United States. The most recent $61 billion aid package from the U.S. took months to pass through Congress amid political infighting.

Counter-offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces

Ukrainian officials do not rule out that the Defense Forces will be able to turn the tide at the front in 2025.

In February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were preparing a new counter-offensive. However, for now the defenders are on the defensive.

In April, Zelensky said there was a plan for a new counter-offensive, but it depended on more weapons, particularly from the United States.