The head of the CIA has warned that Ukraine risks losing "significant ground" to Russia in 2024, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced he was building 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) of front-line defenses.
According to a joint analysis released by the US intelligence agencies, the war's deadlock plays to Russia's strategic military advantages and is increasingly shifting the momentum in Moscow's favor.
Ukraine To Lose Significant Ground To Russia
The annual threat assessment said Russia remained a "resilient and capable adversary," adding it had benefited from uncertainties about the future of Western military assistance. CNN reported, citing estimates from NATO Intelligence, that Russia produces nearly three times as much artillery ammunition than the US and Europe put together can provide to Ukraine.
A senior European intelligence official told CNN that the US and Europe could generate only about 1.2 million munitions annually to send to Kyiv. The director of the CIA, William Burns, told the senate intelligence committee that more losses were likely unless Congress approved Joe Biden's Ukraine aid package, which Republicans have rejected.
Burns said their assessment was that with supplemental assistance, Ukraine could hold its own on the front lines through 2024 and into early 2025. He added that without supplemental assistance lies a much grimmer future, as Ukraine will likely lose significant ground in 2024.
The US national intelligence director Avril Haines claimed that the withdrawal of Ukraine from Avdiivka exposed the erosion of Ukraine's military capabilities.
Zelensky Claims Russian Advance 'Halted'
Zelensky told French broadcaster BFM TV that the Russian advance had been halted. He said that their command and military had stopped the Russian advance in eastern Ukraine. In recent months, Kyiv has been under pressure on the front lines, losing ground to Moscow amid hold-ups to Western aid from its biggest ally, Washington.
On Monday, Zelensky claimed that he could give a fresh piece of information and that the situation is much better than during the past three months. He said that when discussing fortifications, they talked about an ongoing process. He noted that they were not talking about a few or hundreds of kilometers but more than 1,000 kilometers of construction.
"It's a very complex task. They must be solid and resistant to changes in the climate but also resistant to whatever military hardware is used against these defensive lines," he added.
Zelensky responded to remarks made by French President Emmanuel Macron last month that as long as Ukraine holds, the French army can stay on French territory, indicating that the possibility of sending French troops to Ukraine was not ruled out.
