U.S. to continue supporting Ukraine’s counteroffensive - Pentagon

The U.S. Department of Defense believes Ukraine’s counteroffensive will remain a tough effort but the United States will keep supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes.

That’s according to the DoD spokesperson Patrick Ryder, who spoke at a briefing on Tuesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“We continue to see their counteroffensive move forward. It has and will continue to be a tough fight for them. And so again, our focus is going to be on communicating with them, communicating with our allies and partners to ensure that as they (the Ukrainian Armed Forces - ed.) have needs on the battlefield that we’re able to support them,” Ryder told journalists.

In this regard, the spokesman recalled Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s comment that the counteroffensive will be “a marathon and not a sprint”, reiterating Washington’s readiness to “support Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Ukraine’s offensive operation is underway in the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions. The Ukrainian forward groups are entrenching in the recently regained positions, engaging in counterbattery battles.