US, Ukraine Ties Tested as the Conflict in Bakhmut Looks Bleak

(Photo : John Moore/Getty Images)
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has tested Kyiv's ties with Washington as the war rages on, and the AFU is getting surrounded in Bakhmut.

US-Ukraine ties have severely ruffled the conflict of Bakhmut that threatens AFU units in the meat grinder set up by Russian forces. A few officials in the Biden administration feel that Bakhmut is becoming a lost cause for the Zelensky government.

US, Ukraine Ties Tested by Military Defeats

As the Wagner PMC and supporting units are surrounding Bakhmut, the cost of manpower and ammunition will prevent any offensive anytime soon. The consensus of a Ukrainian success is lessening as the planned offensive seems impossible as things stand, a source noted RT.

A statement from the Pentagon says that the city is of no military importance to Ukraine, but Kyiv does not acknowledge what concerns Washington, mentioned Politico.

Throughout the conflict, the Biden administration gave billions in support of weapons from a $113 billion fund. But President Vladimir Zelensky's constant habit of asking for more military assistance is another demand that has burdened this relationship.

Due to the constant demands by the ex-entertainer turned Ukrainian leader, two unnamed officials in the White House are fraying the relationship and calling to attention that the Kyiv leader has not been reciprocating the gratitude owed to its benefactor.

Biden stated that the US would supply weapons to its proxy to accomplish a military victory. Kyiv will decide when the time is right to sit down with the Kremlin to end the conflict.

Conflict in Bakhmut Like Another Crimea

Zelensky claimed that they would recapture Crimea, which legally joined Russia in 2014 and separated from Kyiv, but has accepted not totally. Officials see Crimea as a no-touch that will trigger an escalation from Moscow seen in recent devastating strikes.

It is not the only media report that shows the White House is not for the recapture of Crimea. In January, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley called it a reckless attack on the Russian enclave that would not go down easy. Pentagon officials cited the lack of capability to conduct such an operation.

The outlet says that President Biden needs to re-examine allowing Zelensky to decide how the conflict will end, which should be considered questionable. Many officials want the present conditions that are not optimum as a sign to have a pause.

Kyiv has drawn flak from many US intelligence officers; it is a pro-Ukrainian group that attacked the Nord Stream pipeline on September 2022. The involvement of the Ukrainians was implied, but the Biden administration said to them that such violence would not be acceptable, per The New York Times.

The NYT article had contradictions after a report by journalist Seymour Hersh portrayed what happened that was contradicted by the NTY narrative seen as rewritten by media partial to the US government.

Based on earlier reports that stressed, it was not done by the Ukrainians but by someone else named in the Hersh story. Even Moscow pointed to the US media article as a decoy to shift blame from the US to the Ukrainians.

A strain of US-Ukraine ties brought on by the conflict in Bakhmut by reports shows that Zelensky is losing support from his benefactors.