WASHINGTON, November 9. /TASS/. The United States believes that Russia is playing a waiting game with regard to the crisis in Ukraine, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs James O'Brien said.

Addressing the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, the official was asked what Ukraine needs to be successful on the battlefield.

O’Brien responded that the Russian government "is playing a waiting game," and, therefore, "it's difficult to get a decisive battle." He also claimed that Kiev regained control over 50% of territories, held by Russia since February 2022.

"So what we need is what's in the supplemental, that is the ability to fight this fight over some time, and we do see real success," the assistant secretary of state claimed.

Previously, US President Joe Biden filed a request to the US Congress to provide additional military and other aid to Ukraine and Israel worth about $106 billion. According to the accompanying documents, published by the White House, the request for the fiscal year 2024 proposes to allocate over $61.4 billion for Ukraine and over $14.3 billion for Israel. The future of the request is unknown at this point. A number of Republican members in both chambers of the Congress have publicly spoken out against continuing financial aid to Ukraine.

The Ukrainian army has been making unsuccessful offensive attempts since June 4. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on October 30 that Kiev had lost over 90,000 men killed and wounded, as well as about 600 tanks and 1,900 armored vehicles of various classes during this time. He said Ukraine had failed to achieve any tactically significant successes. On 15 October, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Ukrainian counter-offensive had completely failed, but Kiev was still preparing new active offensive operations at some sections of the frontline.