Donald Trump’s administration has approved plans to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine in the fight against pro-Russian separatists.
The State Department says the US will provide Ukraine with “enhanced defensive capabilities” to protect itself against Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
According to news reports, the US is finally prepared to help Ukraine’s military punch back in the murky conflict.
American weapons going to Ukraine will include Javelin anti-tank missiles and sniper rifles.
Daniel Hoffman, who served for five years in Moscow, warned there will continue to “be bloodshed in Ukraine” following years of violence that has killed more than 10,000 people since 2014.
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Ukraine and Russia are unofficially at war, with the conflict remaining at Ukraine’s borderlands for the past three years.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has continued to push for control over the contested eastern parts of Ukraine and Crimea, where Russian identity is highest.
Appearing on Fox News, Mr Hoffman said: “It’s the Russians who have been the ones mounting aggressive military campaigns against the Ukrainians.
“It really goes back to April of 2008 when NATO announced its plans to issue a membership action plan to Ukraine. And that really caused the Russians great concern.
“There will be significant bloodshed in Ukraine. The hostilities have increased over the last couple of weeks. But it’s Russia who is at fault.
“They are trying to impose a modern-day version of the Brezhnev Doctrine, where they really limit the sovereignty of the nations in the former Soviet Union.”
Donald Trump’s intensified support for Ukraine’s military comes amid early discussions about sending UN peacekeepers to eastern Ukraine, to improve security conditions for Ukrainians and for monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Russian officials have threatened relations between the two states after Trump offered his support to Ukraine, warning that Moscow will retaliate.
Mr Putin told the military officials that both the US and NATO have been “accelerating build-up of infrastructure in Europe” and emphasised that the deployment of NATO forces near Russia’s borders had threatened its security.
NATO has deployed military units to Poland and the Baltics to reassure allies worried over Russia’s intentions following its support for pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that a massive arms modernization program has allowed the military to commission 182 intercontinental ballistic missiles, over 1,000 aircraft, more than 3,200 tanks and other armoured vehicles and more than 150 navy ships over the past five years.