U.S. believes Russia is preparing another offensive in Ukraine soon

The United States believes that Russian troops may try to launch a new offensive on Ukraine in the near future, and such attacks will probably be carried out in several directions.

This was reported by CNN, citing comments by the coordinator for strategic communications of the U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.

According to him, the coming weeks will be "critical" in the war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.

Thus, the U.S. side expects that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin would "try to mount another offensive and maybe along many different vectors," the official said.

"We have got to make sure that we are doing everything we can to make sure Ukraine is ready for that," Kirby said.

The U.S. official also said the United States wants the Ukrainians to be able to defend themselves "against any renewed Russian offensive," and to be able to "conduct offensive operations of their own at a time and place and a size and a scale of their choosing".

"That’s where we’re taking battalions out of Ukraine right now and putting them through combined arms maneuver training," he said. "That’s why they’re ramping up training on things like the Patriot air defense system. We’re doing everything we can to make sure that they’re ready as best they can be before these critical weeks and months ahead," Kirby stressed.

The White House spokesman also said the United States is relying on Ukraine's leadership in its priority of defending Bakhmut, and will continue to provide President Vladimir Zelensky with "what he needs, wherever he chooses to fight."

"That means intelligence. That means support. That means weapons. That means capabilities. That’s what we’re going to be focused on," he said.

As a reminder, earlier the White House said that the U.S. wants to transfer Abrams tanks to Ukraine faster than planned.

Author – Anastasiya Glotova, 22/03/2022