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Ukraine will look to mount a new counteroffensive in 2025 after receiving a $61bn infusion of US military aid to help it stop Russia from making additional gains this year, Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser said.

Speaking at the FT Weekend Festival in Washington on Saturday, Sullivan said that he still expects “Russian advances in the coming period” on the battlefield, despite the new US funding package approved last month, because “you can’t instantly flip the switch”.

But he said that with the new aid from Washington, Kyiv would have the capacity to “hold the line” and “to ensure Ukraine withstands the Russian assault” over the course of 2024.

And pointing to the scenario for the war next year, Sullivan said Ukraine intended to “to move forward to recapture the territory that the Russians have taken from them”.

His comments about a potential counteroffensive by Ukraine represent the White House’s clearest articulation of how it views the conflict evolving if president Joe Biden wins re-election in November.

Any new offensive in 2025 by Ukraine would be dependent on more funding from Congress, and approval by the White House.

But Donald Trump, the former president and presumptive Republican nominee, has been sceptical of Ukraine aid and has vowed to try to end the conflict quickly and seek a negotiated settlement.

Ukrainian officials have expressed hope that it may be able to turn the tide next year.

Speaking to Germany’s Bild last month, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there is a plan for another counteroffensive but that it is contingent on more weapons, including from the US.

But while much-needed supplies and weapons are on their way to the front lines after the US aid was approved last month, resolving Ukraine’s personnel shortages is crucial to its chances against Russia. 

Many Ukrainian men have been unwilling to join the mobilisation drive which began almost a year ago, citing fear of poor commanders and a lack of weaponry.

Ukraine’s leadership has been attempting to solve these issues with a mix of more liberal recruitment methods and better conditions for soldiers. But it remains to be seen what impact it and the new aid packages will have on the mood. 

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) drives past Dallas Wings forward Natasha Howard (6) during their WNBA basketball game in Arlington, Texas, on Friday.

Michael Ainsworth/AP

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Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) drives past Dallas Wings forward Natasha Howard (6) during their WNBA basketball game in Arlington, Texas, on Friday.

Michael Ainsworth/AP

Caitlin Clark made her WNBA debut with the Indiana Fever on Friday night — and her “effect” showed no signs of waning.

The preseason game against the Dallas Wings was another sellout match with enthusiastic fans lining up outside College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, to watch the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer play in her first professional game.

“My biggest goal coming into tonight was being myself, have fun playing basketball, be aggressive. Thought that’s what I did,” Clark said Friday in a post-game press conference.

Similar to her time at the University of Iowa, Clark shined Friday on the court — scoring 21 points with three rebounds, two assists, two steals, despite it being a losing match. The Wings won 79-76.

Fever head coach Christie Sides applauded Clark’s performance but noted that the rookie star and the rest of the team were still in an adjustment period.

“We’re still learning each other,” Sides said Friday at the press conference.

Sides noted that in the first quarter, Clark appeared fatigued. The head coach said she hopes Clark will lean on her teammates in the future.

Clark was asked what the biggest difference was between professional and college basketball.

“Everybody’s super physical, it doesn’t always get called. I would say that’s the biggest thing,” she said.

Clark’s debut in a regular-season game will be against the Connecticut Sun on May 14.

“It’s a big milestone for somebody that’s always dreamed of playing in the WNBA,” Clark said.

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Berkshire Hathaway’s cash pile swelled to a record $189bn in the first quarter of 2024 as Warren Buffett’s sprawling conglomerate continued to dump stocks, including Apple, one of its largest positions.

The figure underscores the difficulty the billionaire investor and his team have had in trying to find worthwhile investments, as well as the relative allure of the high yield on US government debt.

The company on Saturday disclosed it had sold just under $20bn-worth of stocks in the first three months of the year, buying $2.7bn over the same period. As a result the value of its stock portfolio slipped to $336bn, from $354bn at year-end.

The filing with US securities regulators indicated that Berkshire had sold a significant portion of its stake in Apple, which had become a core holding for the Omaha-based business since one of Buffett’s deputies first invested in 2016.

The company said its position in the iPhone maker was worth $135.4bn in the first quarter, down from $174.3bn at the end of 2023, suggesting it had sold more than 100mn shares in the company at the start of the year. Berkshire started to pare its holdings in Apple in late December, selling roughly 10mn shares.

Buffett has long heaped praise on Apple’s management team and in 2022 he described the company as one of Berkshire’s “four giants”, alongside its insurance operations, the BNSF railroad and its energy and utility business Berkshire Hathaway Energy.

Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, told CNBC that Buffett had told him about the stock sales on Friday. Cook added that it was still “a privilege to have Berkshire as a shareholder”.

The figures come as Berkshire shareholders gather in Omaha, Nebraska, for the company’s annual meeting, dubbed the Woodstock of capitalism. It is the first time Buffett will take to the stage since his longtime business partner Charlie Munger died in November.

Berkshire reported solid earnings in the first quarter, driven almost entirely by improvements in its insurance businesses as well as a boost from higher interest rates. Operating profits across the company jumped 39 per cent from the year before to $11.2bn.

The company disclosed that its auto insurer Geico had passed along higher rates to customers and had suffered fewer claims, lifting its results. The unit has scaled back its footprint since the pandemic after it suffered a period of losses.

Auto insurers across the US had struggled with the high replacement costs of new cars, exacerbated by supply chain issues and surging inflation.

Geico, which is led by one of Buffett’s top investment deputies, cut millions of policies in a drive to return to profitability. The move has been successful. Pre-tax profits at Geico more than doubled from a year ago to $1.93bn. The unit also signalled its retrenchment could be near its end, saying that “the rate of decline” had slowed and it was winning new business.

The company has also benefited from the US Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates in a bid to quell inflationary pressures. Berkshire said it earned $1.9bn in the quarter in interest income from its cash pile, which is largely invested in short-term Treasuries.

Over the past year, it has earned almost $7bn on that portfolio.

Overall, Berkshire said it generated a net profit of $12.7bn in the first quarter, down 64 per cent from $35.5bn a year earlier.

Buffett has long discouraged his shareholders from relying on the company’s net income figures — calling them “meaningless” — as they are affected by swings in value of its stock portfolio from quarter to quarter. It can result in huge losses or profits that do not reflect the underlying business performance.

Berkshire’s results are typically pored over by investors, given the company employs nearly 400,000 people and touches almost every part of the US economy. The results were generally upbeat and pointed to an improving US outlook.

Sales at Precision Castparts, an aeroplane parts manufacturer that supplies Boeing, jumped 10 per cent to $2.5bn. Sales at Berkshire’s home building group, which includes the modular home builder Clayton Homes and roofing maker Johns Manville, also rose.

The BNSF railroad’s revenues fell 4.1 per cent, almost entirely driven by lower shipments of coal. The unit, which has more than 32,000 miles of track criss-crossing the US, said it had shipped more consumer and agriculture products than previously.

Shares of Berkshire have climbed 11 per cent this year, outpacing the 8 per cent total return of the S&P 500. Berkshire has not paid a dividend since the 1960s.