WP: CIA Director Discussed Scenario Of Forcing Ceasefire Negotiations With Moscow During Secret Visit To Kyiv

The ambitious strategy of the AFU has become known.

U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director William Burns made a secret visit to Kyiv in June, the Washington Post writes, citing informed sources.

During meetings in Kyiv, William Burns was told of Ukraine’s ambitious goal to retake territory and push Moscow into talks by the end of the year.

According to the sources, during a secret visit to Ukraine by CIA Director William J. Burns earlier this month, Ukrainian officials revealed an “ambitious strategy” to retake Russian-occupied territory, and move into Eastern Ukraine by the autumn. Then the AFU plan to redeploy artillery and rocket systems to the Crimea and open cease-fire negotiations with Moscow by the end of the year.

One of the interlocutors of the publication explained that by encircling the peninsula, Kyiv would receive leverage against Moscow. “Russia will only negotiate if it feels threatened,” said a senior Ukrainian official.

The publication clarifies that Burns’s trip occurred just before the aborted rebellion by Russian mercenary leader Yevgeniy Prigozhin against Russia’s defense establishment. Although the U.S. intelligence community had detected in mid-June that Prigozhin was plotting an armed assault of some kind, those findings were not discussed during the meetings with Zelensky and others, the U.S. official said.

Military analysts say Ukraine’s goal of forcing a negotiation is ambitious given Russia’s fortified defenses, but not out of the question.

“It’s possible they can cut off the land bridge to Crimea, either by seizing the terrain or putting it within range of HIMARS and other artillery, but much depends on the level of attrition,” said Rob Lee, a military analyst at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

At the same time, he noted that Ukraine should be cautious, given the scale of the defense fortifications that Russia built on the eve of the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. “If Ukraine sustains too many losses, its offensive could culminate early. But if Ukraine can inflict enough losses on Russian forces and equipment, and interdict the movement of reinforcements, Ukraine may be able to weaken Moscow’s defenses enough to achieve a breakthrough,” he added.