The American deputy foreign minister made an official visit to Kyiv<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his army are in for "nice surprises" on the battlefields of Ukraine, the State Department's number two, Victoria Nuland, assured yesterday Wednesday, before departing from Kiev where she made an official visit.<\/p>\n
"I'm leaving Kyiv more excited about unity and about the outcome, and about 2024 and its absolute strategic importance for Ukraine," he told reporters.<\/p>\n
"I also leave with a strengthened belief that, as Ukraine strengthens its defenses, Mr. Putin will try some nice surprises on the battlefield and Ukraine will have great successes," he added.<\/p>\n
According to Victoria Nuland, the Ukrainian armed forces have inflicted "massive damage on Putin's ground forces" and the Russian Black Sea Fleet.<\/p>\n
Kiev's long-awaited summer counter-offensive has been labeled a failure, and Russia has now resumed its offensive in the east and south of the country.<\/p>\n
Vladimir Putin assured yesterday that Russian forces have taken positions "on the borders" of the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka (east), which is one of the hottest spots on the vast front, 1,000 kilometers long.<\/p>\n
The head of Ukraine's military intelligence service, Kirill Budanov, said on Tuesday that the Russian offensive would be crushed in a few months.<\/p>\n
"Their offensive continues, it will be over by early spring," then "ours will begin," he told Ukrainian state television.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The American Deputy Secretary of State made an official visit to Kiev. During her visit, she stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his army can expect "nice surprises" in the battlefields in Ukraine. She also expressed confidence that Ukraine's strengthened defenses will lead to great successes against Putin's forces. According to her, Ukrainian armed forces have caused significant damage to Putin's ground forces and the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. The anticipated summer counterattack by Kiev has been deemed a failure, with Russia now launching attacks in the eastern and southern parts of the country. Putin has claimed that Russian forces have positioned themselves "on the borders" of the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, which is one of the hottest points on the 1,000-kilometer front. The head of the Ukrainian military intelligence service has stated that the Russian attack will be crushed in a few months, followed by a Ukrainian counterattack in the spring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2770,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[652,383,3,139,154,19,17],"class_list":["post-2769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-army","tag-attack","tag-cyprus","tag-iiiiii","tag-putin","tag-russia","tag-ukraine"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n