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Full Ukrainian victory over Russia ‘unlikely’: Top US general's rare assessment
Russia-Ukraine War: Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it is unlikely that Ukraine can militarily force Russia out of all of the territory it occupies.
In a rare assessment of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, US' top general played down the odds of any near-term military victory by Ukraine cautioning that Russia still had significant combat power. This comes as Moscow has seen recent setbacks in its invasion of Ukraine which began in Feburary.
Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it is unlikely that Ukraine can militarily force Russia out of all of the territory it occupies.
"The probability of a Ukrainian military victory - defined as kicking the Russians out of all of Ukraine to include what they claim as Crimea - the probability of that happening anytime soon is not high, militarily," Mark Milley said.
"Politically, there may be a political solution where, politically, the Russians withdraw. That's possible," he added.
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Russia "right now is on its back," Mark Milley asserted although he also acknowledged that Moscow is “hurting bad” and will likely struggle through the cold weather in the coming months.
Russia is "imposing a campaign of terror, a campaign of maximum suffering on the Ukrainian civilian population in order to defeat Ukrainian morale," Mark Milley said.
Gen. Milley said that he attempted to call his Russian counterpart to avoid escalation over the missile in Ukraine, but his staff was “unsuccessful” in getting through.
"The Ukrainians have achieved success after success after success. And the Russians have failed every single time. They've lost strategically, they've lost operationally, and I repeat, they lost tactically," the general said.
Calling Russia's invasion "one of the most significant attempts to destroy the rules-based order that World War Two was fought all about", Gen. Milley said the US and its allies will continue to support Ukraine.
