Putin unlikely to change war course in Ukraine before U.S. election in 2024 - media

The U.S. and European officials are concerned that Russian leader Vladimir Putin is factoring the 2024 US presidential election into his Ukraine war plan.

This was reported by CNN, according to Ukrinform.

Putin harbors hope that a loss by President Joe Biden next year will lead the US to curtail its support for Ukraine and improve Russia’s negotiating position,  four US officials told CNN.

One U.S. official said they had "no doubt" that Putin was "trying to hold out" until the 2024 election.

Another source familiar with the intelligence said: “Putin knows Trump will help him. And so do the Ukrainians and our European partners. So even though we haven’t seen anything explicitly to that effect, you have to assume, I believe, that everyone is thinking it.”

One of the European diplomats told CNN that, in their opinion, Russia's attempt to hold out the war against Ukraine before the U.S. elections "is exactly Putin's plan."

However, the U.S. does not yet have explicit intelligence on Putin's mindset or whether he is purposefully dragging out the war in hopes of a Donald Trump or other Republican presidential victory.

But next year's election remains a key factor that senior Western national security, intelligence, and diplomatic officials say will influence Putin's decisions in Ukraine, making it less likely that the war ends before the end of next year, CNN adds.

As reported earlier, the U.S. presidential election will be held in the fall of next year. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is considered the main Republican competitor of former President Donald Trump in, claimed that if he won, he would not like to see American troops involved in Moscow's war against Ukraine.