“Beautiful surprises” await Russian President Vladimir Putin and his military on the battlefield in Ukraine, the US State Department's number two, Victoria Nuland, assured during a visit to Kiev today.
“I leave Kyiv tonight with great enthusiasm for the unity and outcome regarding 2024 and its overall strategic importance for Ukraine,” he announced to the media.
“I return with confidence reinforced by the fact that while Ukraine consolidates its security, Putin will have beautiful surprises on the battlefield and Ukraine will achieve great victories,” he said.
Nuland said Ukrainian soldiers inflicted “massive losses on Putin's ground forces and the Russian Black Sea Fleet”.
Kiev's long-anticipated counteroffensive last summer failed and Russia launched an offensive in the east and south.
On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin said Russian forces were stationed “on the edge” of the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, one of the most intense points on the front.
The head of Ukraine's military intelligence (GUR) Kirill Budanov said on Tuesday that he expected the Russian offensive to stop within a few months.
“Their offensive continues, but it will end at the beginning of spring”, and then “I think ours will start”, he said in reports on national television.
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24, 2022, has plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Ukraine's Western allies have supplied arms to Kiev and approved a series of sanctions against Russian interests. They are trying to reduce Moscow's ability to finance the war effort.
Information released by both sides about the course of the war could not be immediately verified by independent sources.