Ukraine–Russia War Not a ‘Stalemate’: White House

Tankmen of the 93rd Mechanized Brigade "Kholodnyi Yar" take part in military training near the frontline in Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Aug. 1, 2023. (Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images)

The Biden administration doesn’t believe that Ukraine and Russia have reached a stalemate in their ongoing war, and asserts that Ukrainian leadership is adapting its strategy to changing realities on the ground.

“No, we do not assess that the conflict is a stalemate,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said. “As I noted before, we continue to support Ukraine in its effort to take territory as part of this counteroffensive, and we are seeing it continue to take territory on a methodical, systematic basis.”

Ukrainian forces continue to make advances in eastern and southern Ukraine, Mr. Sullivan added.

“Ukrainians are operating according to their tactics and their timetable, making progress according to the strategic and operational decisions of their commanders and their leadership, and we’ll continue to support that.”

Counteroffensive Stalled 

The White House has faced increasing questions about its continued funding for the Ukrainian counteroffensive, which has largely stalled as a result of hundreds of miles of Russian minefields and an inability to achieve air superiority in the skies over occupied Ukraine.

U.S. military leadership previously acknowledged the hardships. Following a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group in July, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley told reporters that some sputtering in Ukraine’s advance against Russian forces was expected.

“Real war is not predictable,” Gen. Milley said. “It is filled with fear and fog and friction. Real war is brutal.

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“That’s the difference between war on paper and real war.”

Gen. Milley acknowledged that much of the slowdown is because of Russia’s expansive minefields throughout eastern Ukraine, which continue to kill Ukrainian service members and destroy vehicles.

Those minefields, he added, are often accompanied by Russian hunter–killer teams, which frequently ambush Ukrainian forces that seek to clear a path through the minefields.

“They’ve had a lot of time to prepare,” Gen. Milley said of the Russian fortifications.

“[The Ukrainians are] working their way through it. It is far from a failure. ... there’s a lot of fighting left to go.”

The apparent stalemate has led to an increasing drone and missile war in which both sides have turned to attacking nonmilitary targets, which has led Moscow and Kyiv to accuse each other of terrorism.

As for the Biden administration, Mr. Sullivan said that the extent of Russian countermeasures was well known when the United States and its partners consulted Ukraine about the possibility of a counteroffensive.

Ukrainian armed forces, he said, are adapting in real time to any unexpected obstacles.

“Coalition partners, including the United States, who were consulting with Ukrainian military and advanced the counteroffensive, certainly took into account the layered defenses that the Russians had built, including the fact that there would be minefields in those defensive belts and that those minefields could be replenished from standoff by the Russians,” Mr. Sullivan said.

“The Ukrainians have adapted their own strategy for dealing with these minefields based on their experience of the reality of combat, which is always different from the planning of combat, and they’ve adjusted accordingly.”

F-16s from Denmark, Netherlands

The issue of air superiority will soon be addressed, although perhaps not in time for this year’s counteroffensive.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced this week that Dutch and Danish leadership agreed to give F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, bringing a vital spark of hope to the embattled nation.

Kyiv has sought advanced warplanes from the West for months but, until now, has been prevented from obtaining the U.S.-made aircraft by the United States, possibly out of concern that the aircraft could be used to attack the Russian homeland, thereby further escalating the war in Europe.

U.S. President Joe Biden agreed to allow the sales to move forward on Aug. 18, however, setting in motion Ukraine’s acquisition of the long-sought fighter jets.

“[The] F-16 will certainly give new energy, confidence, and motivation to fighters and civilians,” Mr. Zelenskyy said in a message to the Ukrainian armed forces. “I’m sure it will deliver new results for Ukraine and the entire [European region].”

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte met with Zelenskyy over the weekend and visited a Dutch air base, where Mr. Rutte suggested that the aircraft could be operating before winter.

“The F-16s will not help immediately now with the war effort,” Mr. Rutte said. “It is, anyway, a long-term commitment from the Netherlands.”

“We want them to be active and operational as soon as possible. ... Not for the next month—that’s impossible—but hopefully soon afterward.”

The Netherlands currently has 42 F-16s. Like Denmark, it’s free to give most or all of them away, since it’s planning to replace the aircraft with the newer, fifth-generation F-35. It’s unclear, however, how many of them will be delivered to Ukraine or held for training purposes.

Similarly, Mr. Zelenskyy also met over the weekend with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who said that Denmark will deliver 19 jets in total, with the first six due to be shipped to Ukraine around the New Year, followed by eight more in 2024 and five in 2025.

“We know that your freedom is our freedom,” Ms. Frederiksen told Mr. Zelenskyy at a news conference in Denmark. “We also know that you need more [weapons].”

As to the White House’s role in facilitating the continued flow of weapons to Ukraine, Mr. Sullivan said the United States would remain unwavering in its efforts to arm and train the Eastern European nation.

“We will continue as we go forward,” he stated. “To [ask] what are the tools necessary to help Ukraine make progress? How do we provide those tools on an expedited basis? How do we provide the necessary training so that they have what they need? That’s what we’re going to continue to do.”