The Air Force is moving its refueling mission from Germany to Poland for the foreseeable future, in a move aimed at reinforcing NATO’s eastern flank, the Air Force said.

U.S. Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard tankers most recently flew from Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany as part of Copper Arrow, an ongoing operation to boost air refueling capacity on the Continent.

In the coming months, 19 tanker units based stateside are slated to come to the west-central Polish town of Powidz, with several planned operations supporting NATO activities, U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa said in a statement.

Tankers began flying from Powidz in early March, and on April 13, a Pegasus from the 931st Air Refueling Wing at McConnell Air Base, Kan., refueled Finnish air force F/A-18s, USAFE-AFRICA said last week.

The mission relies on units from the U.S. that send their tankers to Europe to support USAFE operations, the command said.

The stateside tankers “travel with Air Reserve Component members who voluntarily commit to rotations in the European” theater, said Col. Gary Dodge, Air National Guard adviser to the USAFE-AFAFRICA commander.

Moreover, U.S. intelligence indicates that Ukraine simply does not have the ability to push Russian troops from where they were deeply entrenched — and a similar feeling has taken hold about the battlefield elsewhere in Ukraine, according to officials. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the U.S. hasn’t adequately armed his forces properly and so, until then, the counteroffensive can’t begin.

There is belief that Kyiv is willing to consider adjusting its goals, according to American officials, and a more modest aim might be easier to be sold as a win.

There has been discussion, per aides, of framing it to the Ukrainians as a “ceasefire” and not as permanent peace talks, leaving the door open for Ukraine to regain more of its territory at a future date. Incentives would have to be given to Kyiv: perhaps NATO-like security guarantees, economic help from the European Union, more military aid to replenish and bolster Ukraine’s forces, and the like. And aides have expressed hope of re-engaging China to push Putin to the negotiating table as well.

But that would still lead to the dilemma of what happens next, and how harshly domestic critics respond.

“If the counteroffensive does not go well, the administration has only itself to blame for withholding certain types of arms and aid at the time when it was most needed,” said Kurt Volker, the special envoy for Ukraine during the Trump administration.

A counteroffensive that doesn’t meet expectations will also cause allies in foreign capitals to question how much more they can spare if Kyiv’s victory looks farther and farther away.

“European public support may wane over time as European energy and economic costs stay high,” said Clementine Starling, a director and fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington, D.C. “A fracturing of transatlantic support will likely hurt U.S. domestic support and Congress and the Biden administration may struggle to sustain it.”

Biden and his top aides have publicly stressed that Zelenskyy should only begin peace talks when he is ready. But Washington has also communicated to Kyiv some political realities: at some point, especially with Republicans in control of the House of Representatives, the pace of U.S. aid will likely slow. Officials in Washington, though not pressing Kyiv, have begun preparing for what those conversations could look like and understand it may be a tough political sell at home for Zelenskyy.

“If Ukraine can’t gain dramatically on the battlefield, the question inevitably arises as to whether it is time for a negotiated stop to the fighting,” said Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations. “It’s expensive, we’re running low on munitions, we’ve got other contingencies around the world to prepare for.”