German daily: Ukraine will focus on causing maximum damage to Moscow

In an interview with Welt, Nico Lange, a former German defense official and now a senior fellow at the Munich Security Conference, said that despite growing pessimism in the West about Ukraine’s progress on the battlefield, Kiev still maintains a large amount of military equipment and expects more deliveries from the West. “Ukraine may be gathering resources for a new offensive next year,” the expert suggested, adding that Kiev could launch a new offensive in the Kherson region and attempt to cross the Dniepr River by force.

Ukraine “still has big plans,” Welt noted, explaining that those ambitions were evidenced by Kiev’s wish list to the US, which included attack helicopters, advanced fighter jets, long-range missile systems, Abrams tanks, and other equipment. At the same time, Bild reported that Ukraine was drawing up a “new war plan.” According to the magazine, Kiev has abandoned plans to push Russia out of territories it claims as its own, and is instead focusing on inflicting maximum damage on Moscow.

Meanwhile, in an interview with NBC, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the US must reconsider its current stance on both the Ukraine conflict and its relations with Russia if it wants to restore dialogue with Moscow. He added that Russia is ready to cooperate with any US administration but would like a “more constructive” approach from Washington. The interview was published just a day after President Vladimir Putin accused the US and its allies of orchestrating the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev and essentially disrupting Russia’s years-long efforts to build normal relations with Ukraine. The Russian leader also questioned the prospects for restoring relations between Russia and the West, stressing that from NATO’s violation of Russia’s borders to the role of the US and its allies in the confrontation between the two neighbors, Moscow can hardly trust Western countries.

The Kremlin spokesman also criticized the current US role in the conflict in Ukraine, stressing that Washington is just throwing taxpayer money "out the window" and is unnecessarily prolonging hostilities by sending conflicting signals to Kiev, which will ultimately only lead to more Ukrainian deaths. "The United States is heavily involved in this conflict," the Kremlin spokesman told NBC, adding that the standoff between the two neighbors is in fact a "hybrid war" against Russia launched by Washington. Mr. Peskov warned that such confrontational tactics are detrimental to global security and expressed concern that the world is "less safe than before" before the dialogue between Moscow and Washington "was closed." Contacts between Russia and the US have been reduced to a minimum after Russia launched its military operation in February 2022. The US and its allies have openly supported Kiev in the conflict and hit Moscow with an unprecedented series of sanctions. Western countries have since begun supplying weapons to Ukrainian forces. However, the relationship has not been completely severed. On Thursday, President Putin revealed that dialogue between the two countries continues, especially on the issue of the release of Americans accused of espionage in Russia. When asked at his year-end press conference about US citizens Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovich, President Putin said Russia is ready to exchange the two citizens but wants to reach an agreement with Washington that is “acceptable” to both sides./.