Ukraine faces critical months at the front associated with the upcoming offensive of the Russian Armed Forces.
The Coordinator for Strategic Communications of the US National Security Council in the White House, John Kirby, stated this in a commentary to CNN, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
He believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin "will try to launch another offensive and, perhaps, in many other vectors."
“We need to make sure we do everything we can to make sure Ukraine is ready for this,” Kirby said.
The official added that the United States wants the Ukrainians to be able to defend themselves “against any renewed Russian offensive” and also have the ability to “conduct their own offensive operations at any time and in any place, in the size and scale of their choice.”
“It is here that we are now withdrawing battalions from Ukraine and conducting combined arms maneuvers for them. That's why they're ramping up training on things like the Patriot air defense system. We are doing everything we can to make sure they are as prepared as possible for the critical weeks and months ahead,” Kirby said.
He admitted that the United States will support Ukraine not only with weapons, but also with intelligence.
At the same time, four influential Republican congressmen sent a letter to US President Joe Biden calling for DPICM cluster munitions to be provided to Ukraine.
“Providing DPICM will allow Ukraine to compensate for Russia's quantitative advantage in both manpower and artillery shells, and will also allow the Ukrainian Armed Forces to concentrate the use of unitary warheads against higher-value Russian targets,” the letter says.
The letter was signed by the head of the US House Foreign Affairs Committee McCaul, the head of the House Armed Services Committee Rogers, senators Jim Risch (member of the Foreign Relations Committee) and Roger Wicker (member of the Armed Services Committee).
In turn, British intelligence, in its report on the situation on the Ukrainian fronts as of March 22, indicates that the situation around Artemovsk remains extremely difficult for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
“Fighting continues around the city center, Ukrainian defenders remain under threat due to encirclement from the north and south. However, there is a realistic possibility that the Russian offensive on the city is beginning to lose the time-limited momentum it has had so far - partly due to the fact that some Russian units are being transferred to other sectors of the front, the British intelligence agency hopes.