US State Department: Ukraine Will Emerge from War as Independent and Strong State

The US State Department does not believe that the current course of the war in Ukraine favours Russia.

"So there are going to be battlefield developments back and forth, where you see each side gaining or losing territory. But when you look at the ultimate stakes of this war, it’s quite clear that Ukraine is going to exit this war independent, strong, with an improved economy, and looking west," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a briefing.

At the same time, Miller reiterated that from the very beginning, Russia wanted Ukraine not only to orient itself to the East but to become a part of Russia. 

"I think people forget oftentimes the actual stakes of this war and what Vladimir Putin’s actual goal was, and what Ukraine has actually achieved and what it continues to achieve. Remember that Putin launched this as a war of total conquest where he wanted to take over Ukraine," Miller said.

Earlier, the White House announced that the Russian army had not learned the lessons of the war of aggression against Ukraine in two years.

Additionally, the US presidential administration does not believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to negotiate an end to the war of aggression against Ukraine, despite separate reports in the media.

Earlier, The New York Times claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin has been sending signals through intermediaries since at least September that he is ready to agree to a ceasefire in the war of aggression against Ukraine, which would include freezing hostilities on the current contact line.