US races to prepare Kyiv for spring offensive

The US military is rushing equipment to the battlefield and training Ukrainian forces at a rapid pace, ahead of a major offensive against Russia expected by late spring.

Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin projected a sense of urgency on March 15 after a virtual meeting of the multinational Ukraine Defence Contact Group, saying that “Ukraine doesn’t have any time to waste”, Politico reports.

“We have to deliver swiftly and fully on our promised commitments,” Austin said. “That includes delivering our armoured capabilities to the battlefield and ensuring that Ukrainian soldiers get the training, spare parts and maintenance support that they need to use these new systems, as soon as possible.”

As spring approaches, US officials are increasingly concerned about Ukraine’s dwindling supply of ammunition, air defences and experienced soldiers. Moscow and Kyiv are continuing to throw bodies into the fight for a southeastern city the US does not consider strategically important. But the Pentagon says that regardless of Kyiv’s battlefield strategy, the US wants Ukraine’s soldiers to have the weapons they need to keep fighting.

Russia has spent months pummeling the country with missiles, seeking not only to cause destruction but also to deplete Ukraine’s air defence stocks. Ukrainian soldiers have described acute shortages of basic ammunition, including mortar rounds and artillery shells. And upwards of 100,000 Ukrainian forces have died in the year-long war, US officials estimate, including the most experienced soldiers.

Many of these losses are taking place in Bakhmut, where both sides are suffering massive casualties. Led by soldiers from the mercenary Wagner Group, Russia has laid siege to the southeastern city for nine months, reducing it to ruins. Ukrainian forces have refused to yield, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy insisting that defending Bakhmut is key to holding other eastern cities.

But Austin recently told reporters that Bakhmut is “more of a symbolic value than it is strategic and operational value”.

Instead, US officials are more focused on getting Ukraine ready for a major spring offensive to retake territory, which they expect to begin by May. Hundreds of Western tanks and armoured vehicles, including for the first time eight armoured vehicles that can launch bridges and allow troops to cross rivers, are en route to Ukraine for the offensive. The US and European partners are also flowing massive amounts of ammunition and 155mm shells, which Ukraine has identified as its most urgent need.