A U.S. official said in a statement that Burns traveled to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian intelligence colleagues as well as the country’s president and reinforce U.S. support for Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression. The intelligence disclosed by the CIA on Ukraine is still unknown to the outside world.
In the near term, U.S. officials are closely watching possible Russian offensives in the coming months. As a senior diplomat, Burns initiated two visits last year. Between one of them, he encountered an attack by Russian troops on Kyiv, but his personal safety was not threatened.
During the winter months, fierce fighting raged on Ukraine’s eastern front, with a brutal back-and-forth around the vicinity of Bakhmut. In Soledar, the Ukrainian army suffered its first strategic defeat this year. U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines (Avril Haines) said in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on the 18th that the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine at this stage is not a stalemate, but a real intense conflict.
CNN quoted Ukrainian sources familiar with the matter as saying that what Kyiv is most worried about now is the speed of arms supply from Western allies.
A total of 11 NATO countries have pledged new military aid so far. On the 20th, defense leaders from 50 countries including the United States and NATO held a meeting at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, during which new sanctions policies may be introduced.
On the same day, in order to put pressure on Germany and other countries, Putin ally and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (Dmitry Medvedev) warned NATO countries that if Russia is defeated in Ukraine, it will launch a nuclear war with NATO. He said that a great power with nuclear weapons has never been defeated in a fateful war. This approach is accused of being a direct nuclear deterrent.
Also on the 20th, the BBC reported that the Russian military was also seeking more troops. Recently, a recruitment advertisement for the Russian mercenary Wagner Group appeared in Serbia, and there were video clips of Serbs fighting in Ukraine. In this regard, Serbian President Vucic (Aleksandar Vucic) was furious and said that Wagner’s approach was completely against the rules. The country’s regulations state that it is illegal for Serbs to participate in foreign conflicts, and those involved in foreign combatants have been convicted by Serbian courts.
The news has damaged Serbia’s relations with Russia. After learning that Wagner had recruited Serbs to join the war, Vucic said on state-run television that Serbia remained “neutral” in the Russo-Ukrainian war and that he himself had not spoken to Putin for months.