The US will send a general to Ukraine to build a new strategy.
The United States and Ukraine plan to develop a new military strategy, which could be implemented as early as 2024, the New York Times reported, citing US and Ukrainian officials.
According to the press, the Pentagon will send Lieutenant General Antonio Aguto to Kiev, however, Washington and Kiev have yet to reach an agreement on the content of the above strategy.
In early December, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry announced that Defense Minister Rustem Umerov had discussed with Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin Ukraine's "strategic goals" and plans for conducting military operations for 2024.
It is known that the parties also discussed defense cooperation, attracting investment in military complexes, strengthening air defense systems and stepping up the construction of fortifications. Umerov himself announced that the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense still has its own plans for military activities in 2024.
"US and Ukrainian military leaders are developing a new strategy that could begin implementation next year to revive Kiev's chances," the newspaper wrote.
According to the New York Times, for these purposes, the Pentagon will send to Kiev Lieutenant General Antonio Aguto, who previously spent time in Germany. The publication notes that the general will spend a long time in Ukraine and therefore be able to provide more detailed advice to the country's military command. However, General Aguto's presence in Kiev may be a move to abandon the practice of permanently deploying military advisers to Ukraine.
According to the newspaper's sources, US and Ukrainian officers hope to elaborate on the new strategy at a military games scheduled for January 2024 in the German city of Wiesbaden. While Ukraine advocates an offensive in the hope of attracting international attention, US advisers are pushing for a more restrained approach, focusing on defending existing territories and amassing forces within a year. The goal of the strategy is to create a significant force that Russia "will be wary of and forced to sit down at the negotiating table in a real way by the end of 2024 or early 2025."
Meanwhile, most Republican lawmakers in the US Congress said they would not vote to allocate any additional funds to Ukraine without a new strategy, the New York Times stressed. Earlier, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that the US had “exhausted” its ability to provide military aid to Ukraine.
