RAKOW, POLISH REPUBLICAN REPUBLIC OF POLAND — On Monday, the US stepped up its rhetoric on the Ukraine conflict, saying that the goal was not just to block the Russian invasion, but also to undermine Russia so that it could no longer carry out such military aggression anyplace.
The highest-ranking Biden administration team to visit Ukraine since the war began declared this goal explicitly. It represented a reasserted determination to oppose Russia by arming the Ukrainians, who have fought Russian soldiers with a tenacity that has depleted Kremlin resources and shattered President Vladimir V. Putin's hopes for a swift victory.The US delegation also stated that the US would reopen its embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, as further proof that Russia is on the verge of defeat. The embassy will be overseen by a freshly nominated ambassador after being closed in the run-up to the invasion on Feb. 24.
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The American visit, coordinated by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken over the weekend, ended early Monday and amounted to a hazardous challenge to Russia, which has been attempting to subdue Ukraine by force for more than two months. Russia has requested that the United States and its NATO partners stop supplying Ukraine's military with modern weapons.Despite the fact that the trip was supposed to be kept a secret, word got out, and Russia launched rockets at at least five Ukrainian rail stations hours after the visitors finished their talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv and then traveled to Poland by rail, which can take up to 11 hours. It's unknown if they were in Ukraine at the time of the strikes or if they were specifically targeted by Russia.Ukraine's trains and other infrastructure are critical for getting Western-supplied weaponry and help to the front lines in the former Soviet republic, which Mr. Putin claims is not a country.
Mr. Austin, speaking after the tour in Poland, said Russia has incurred considerable military losses thus far, including "a large number of its troops." According to him, the Pentagon is attempting to ensure that Russia cannot "fast replicate that capability."At a meeting with allies on Tuesday in Germany, Mr. Austin and Mr. Blinken planned to go over the details of what support Ukraine needs to win.
Mr. Austin stated, "We want to see Russia diminished to the point where it can no longer do the kinds of things it did in invading Ukraine."
Because Ukrainian forces still utilize several Soviet-designed weaponry, the US has committed to deliver not only modern American-made weapons but also newly manufactured ammo for such weapons. The State Department announced on Monday that the US would provide Ukraine with $165 million in artillery rounds, rockets, and grenades that are compatible with Soviet-designed weapons.
Mr. Blinken, who said that Russia's goal of toppling the Ukrainian state had already been thwarted, assured reporters that the American Embassy in Kyiv would reopen in a few weeks. Bridget Brink, the current US ambassador to Slovakia, has been nominated as the new envoy to Ukraine by the Trump administration.Mr. Blinken stated, "Russia is failing." "Ukraine is making progress."
On Monday, it was clear that Russia viewed the visit as a pretext to intensify the confrontation. Apart from the rocket attacks on Ukraine's trains, Russian attacks in the east have knocked out power in the entire province of Luhansk, leaving tens of thousands without power, according to local government officials
Russia started shelling and spread the devastation in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, shattering an Orthodox Easter pause. Explosions shook Transnistria, a Russia-aligned separatist territory of Moldova that borders Ukraine, on the other side of the country. Hundreds of Russian troops are stationed in Transnistria, and Ukrainian defense authorities suspect Russia of setting off the explosives as a pretext to attack Ukraine from the east.
Other developments on Monday suggested that the situation will worsen. In retaliation to Germany's expulsion of Russians, Russia announced the expulsion of 40 German diplomats. Large fires of unknown origin overtook oil storage bunkers in Bryansk, a Russian logistical military hub less than 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.Russia's first plan to capture Ukraine by besieging Kiev and shelling other major cities was thwarted by poor logistics, low army morale, and ferocious resistance, forcing a retreat. Russian attacks have shifted to secure eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed separatists have been battling since 2014.
Mr. Austin and Mr. Blinken's messaging, according to many Biden administration officials, was partially intended to give Mr. Zelensky the strongest possible hand in what they expect to be cease-fire discussions in the coming months.
However, Mr. Putin's declarations that the Ukraine war is actually about Russia's future, which sees neighboring Ukraine's pro-Western leanings as a direct danger, could be reinforced by the messaging. Furthermore, by framing the American goal as a weakened Russia, the administration has made its resolve to limit Russian President Vladimir Putin's influence more explicit.
Mr. Zelensky has recently become more assertive, claiming that Western nations are now supplying him with the heavier armament he seeks. He has, however, been candid in analyzing the catastrophic military position facing Ukrainian troops encircled within a steel factory in Mariupol, the beleaguered southeast port city that has become a symbol of the war's devastation.Mr. Zelensky stated at a news conference on Saturday that the Ukrainian army has ceded land in the country's east, but has also recovered places.
"Every day, this is the situation in the eastern regions," he stated. "We can donate a piece of land, but we have to take it back at night."
He claimed that the Ukrainian Army had already proved its ability to repel Russian forces. "I'd want to use Kyiv as an example," he remarked. "We de-occupied the territory, we released the territory."
Mr. Zelensky stated emphatically that a victory in the east was also critical for Ukraine's future. "We'll bring back anything they try to break," he vowed.
NATO has stated that it will not deploy troops to combat Russia, potentially escalating what is already Europe's biggest armed war since World War II. Mr. Zelensky's request for a no-fly zone above his country, which is not a NATO member, was also denied.
Mr. Zelensky's leadership, as well as his military forces' successful employment of NATO-supplied weapons against the Russians, have increased his stature in the West, where he is regarded as a leader.Mr. Putin's bullying is met with a brave protagonist.
For the time being, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has demonstrated disdain for Mr. Zelensky, appears to have ruled out any direct interaction with him. Mr. Putin, on the other hand, has agreed to meet with UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who was planned to meet with him in Moscow on Tuesday before travelling to Kyiv to meet with Mr. Zelensky. The visits represent Mr. Guterres' most active diplomatic endeavor to bring the war to an end, as his demands for a cease-fire have mostly gone unheeded so far.
Mr. Zelensky's defiance of Mr. Putin is sure to irritate the Russian leader, who's decision to go to war has not only isolated Russia economically, but also offered him few real triumphs to show his own people, according to political analysts.
"Even if there is a frozen conflict following a degree of Russian'success' in this second phase of the war, Zelensky emerges as a global hero, a David who faced down Russia's Goliath, running a country that Putin considers illegitimate," said Ian Bremmer, president and founder of the Eurasia Group, a political-risk consulting firm. Mr. Zelensky's presence, according to Mr. Bremmer, "is a direct challenge to Putin, making him look weak."
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