It is still unclear what Putin’s long-term goals are, a senior defense official said. But despite the recent shift in strategy and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine peace talks, the US and its allies are preparing for the possibility that Putin tries to reinvade the Kyiv region once he completes his objectives in the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, assuming he has enough manpower and equipment left to do so, US and European officials told CNN…

“While Moscow may be interested now in using military pressure to find a political settlement, if this offensive in the east proves to gain some traction, Russia could regenerate forces for additional goals, including trying to gain control of yet more territory within Ukraine,” Sullivan said in his Tuesday remarks.

US intelligence suggests that while Russia may try to reattack elsewhere, such an operation may have limited success given the heavy losses its military has already sustained over the last six weeks, said one of the sources familiar with the US assessments.

But Russian forces are resupplying as they move east, leaving Western governments actively — yet informally — weighing the kinds of security guarantees they could provide Ukraine that could deter any renewed Russian offensives.