US President optimistic about Ukraine's counterattack

After meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the White House, US President Joe Biden said Washington and its allies have made great efforts to arm and prepare Ukraine to launch a counterattack against Russia.

“We have done everything we can, collectively and individually in the United States, to help them get ready, to support,” Mr. Biden said on June 8.

Ukraine is said to have begun its long-delayed counterattack. Photo: Reuters

The US president called Kiev's efforts to launch a counteroffensive "a developing situation that we are very optimistic about."

Biden’s comments came after reports that Ukrainian forces had suffered “significant” casualties in their attempts to breach Russian defenses. CNN reported on June 8 that Ukrainian troops were facing “stronger-than-expected resistance” and were struggling to get Western-supplied vehicles through minefields.

The Ukrainian counter-offensive is believed to have begun with a large-scale offensive on June 4. Kiev has acknowledged that its forces are “going on the offensive” in some areas, but has dismissed Russia’s claims of defeat and losses.

Russia accuses US of preventing Kiev from signing ceasefire agreement

Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolay Patrushev accused the US and UK of obstructing the peaceful path to resolving the conflict in Ukraine.

“I can identify the countries most interested in continuing hostilities as the US and the UK,” RT news agency quoted Mr. Patrushev as saying at a press conference in Belarus on June 8.

Mr Patrushev recalled that Moscow and Kiev were close to reaching a ceasefire agreement in the first weeks of the conflict. But the Ukrainian government withdrew from the peace talks under US pressure, Russian officials alleged.

The talks took place in Istanbul. At the time, Ukraine proposed a commitment to maintain neutrality in exchange for security guarantees, and Moscow tentatively agreed.

Russian officials say the hostilities in Ukraine are part of a proxy war waged by the US and its allies against Moscow.

Washington has said its goal in Ukraine is to inflict a "strategic defeat" on Russia. The US has pledged military support to Ukraine to achieve its stated goal.

Western troops not coming to Ukraine

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said Kiev had rejected a proposal by former NATO Secretary General Anders Rasmussen that Poland could lead a "coalition of the willing" and send troops to Ukraine.

Mr. Kuleba stressed that the Ukrainian government has never made such a request.

“Until the conflict on Ukrainian territory ends, foreign countries will not send troops to Ukraine. Moreover, we are not asking for it. We are saying ‘send us weapons’,” Minister Kuleba commented on Rasmussen’s statement.

Previously, the former NATO leader said that some member countries of the military alliance could send troops to Ukraine, if Kiev does not receive official security guarantees at the NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius next July.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also threatened to boycott the event unless Kiev received a concrete roadmap to joining NATO.

Foreign Minister Kuleba is confident that Ukraine will become part of NATO.

The US previously confirmed that there was a small group of troops inside Ukraine, but they were only monitoring military support for Kiev.

NATO and its allies have also repeatedly affirmed that they are not involved in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.