Putin has not yet decided on a new offensive on Ukraine in 2023 

A senior US State Department official shared the information with reporters on Tuesday on condition of anonymity, the New York Times reports.

According to the US official, there are ongoing internal discussions in Russia's top military circles about whether the Russian military could launch a new offensive.

The official said the US is seeing "conflicting things" in those discussions, with some officials pushing for a new offensive while others question whether Russia has the capacity to do so.

The State Department spokesman did not specify on the basis of what intelligence the United States determines the nature of the discussions of Russia’s top leadership, but added that it is unclear what Russia's actual actions will lead to.

The BBC adds that there are those who support the decision, but "there are others who question" the feasibility of the endeavour. Russia should take into account Ukraine's determination to continue de-occupying its territory.

 In addition, the US observes a "very significant" shortage of ammunition in Russian forces, and people are "thrown into battle" without training and coordination, which limits attack effectiveness. These factors "impose restrictions" on Russian plans, however, the Russian military machine is still large, although it works at "terrible costs".

Last week, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said that, in his opinion, Russia will mobilize 200,000 new troops and may try to capture Kyiv in January 2023.

At the same time, the Pentagon expressed doubt that Russia could launch an offensive on Kyiv in the near future, but did not think that Moscow had abandoned its intentions to seize the territory of Ukraine.