U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland told an audience in Kiev, on May 25, that Washington has been helping plan the Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russia for almost half a year. According to a report in RT, Nuland told the Kiev Security Forum, via video from the State Department: “Even as you plan for the counteroffensive, which we have been working on with you for some 4-5 months, we are already beginning our discussions with [the] Ukrainian government and with friends in Kiev—both on the civilian side and on the military side—about Ukraine’s long-term future.”
She added that the alleged attack by Ukraine will be “likely starting and moving concurrently” with events such as the NATO summit in Lithuania, scheduled for July 11-12. Nuland also told the Kiev Security Forum that the U.S. is also planning for Ukraine’s future military to deter Russia, so “wherever and however this ends—1 year, 6 years, 16 years—we are not doing this again.”
