The war in Ukraine has been dragging on for well over a year as the United States and other nations provide cash and military equipment to be used against invading Russian forces.
This week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared an update about the conflict, asserting that he has an “unpleasant surprise” in store for Russia.
Despite commanding a significantly larger military, Russian President Vladimir Putin has not been able to gain an upper hand in the neighboring country. Most recently, a mission in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut appeared to hit a snag amid internal disputes among Russian military leaders.
⚡️ The Ukrainian Armed Forces launched an attack near Soledar and seek to encircle Bakhmut, the Kremlin's war correspondents said.
According to them, Ukrainian forces with the support of several units and armored groups, each with 2-3 tanks, were able to organize a breakthrough.… pic.twitter.com/GIWEB89CnF
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) May 11, 2023
Perhaps planning to take advantage of the situation, Zelenskyy is reportedly gearing up for a renewed show of force against Russian troops — but he declined to provide any details in his recent announcement.
“I am not ready to communicate with you to say when we will be advancing,” he said. “Because to some extent, this prepares the enemy. And therefore, I would like it to be an unpleasant surprise, not the other way around.”
It remains to be seen whether there is an element of psychological warfare in Zelenskyy’s decision to release the vague information, but his demeanor and rhetoric seemed confident when discussing the unspecified counterattack.
“I think we will achieve the appropriate result,” he said, predicting that it would end with the “full sovereignty of Ukraine.”
The news came on the heels of a CNN town hall event during which former President Donald Trump offered his plan for addressing the conflict in Ukraine if he is re-elected next year.
As Republicans become increasingly disillusioned by the cost of America’s support in Ukraine, Trump stopped short of confirming that he wants to see a Ukrainian victory.
“I want everybody to stop dying,” he said on Wednesday. “They’re dying. Russian and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done in 24 hours.”
He said that he does not “think in terms of winning and losing” but instead “in terms of getting it settled so we stop killing all these people.”
As for the amount of military assistance provided by the Biden administration thus far, Trump concluded: “We’re giving away so much equipment, we don’t have ammunition for ourselves right now. We don’t have ammunition for ourselves we’re giving away so much.”
