With record-high aid to Ukraine, the US lets Putin know that it is ready for a protracted war. Russia may ignore the signal, but will feel the effects on the battlefield

The US allocated a record-high aid package to Ukraine — almost $3 billion. Washington's task is to break the strategy of the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin: not to allow him to "outwait" the allies, exhaust Ukraine or attack again in a few years.

This stance is based on the idea that Russia may also be forced to wage a war of attrition and to roll back at least to the line of February 23. But this idea is naïve — in order to win, you need to thoroughly defeat Russia on the battlefield, military expert Oleksiy Melnyk told LIGA.net.

What will be included in the package of military aid — and what will not be in it, what are the deadlines for delivery and how the US sees the Ukrainian Armed Forces of the future — a brief analysis from LIGA.net.

Public statements of the West confirm its position that the war of attrition, which Russia is currently imposing on Ukraine, may be imposed on the Russian Federation itself, says Melnyk.

They are based on the idea that Russia will see the prospects of a defeat in the long run due to resource advantages of the collective West, after which Moscow will "make a very broad gesture of goodwill" with the withdrawal of troops to the line of at least February 23, the expert elaborates.

However, such hopes are naïve, Melnyk believes. According to him, the work on how the West sees the victory of Ukraine — and how to make Putin to abandon his far-reaching goals — is not over yet.

"The only way to solve this problem is to thoroughly defeat the Russian Armed Forces," he summed up.