Russia will not achieve military victory in Ukraine: top US general

WASHINGTON: Russia will not achieve a military victory in Ukraine, top US officer General Mark Milley said on Thursday, while also cautioning that Kyiv is unlikely to force out all of Moscow´s troops anytime soon.

His comments underlined forecasts that the war in Ukraine is set to drag on, with neither side positioned to win a clear-cut victory and no negotiations currently taking place. “This war, militarily, is not going to be won by Russia. It´s just not,” Milley told journalists after the conclusion of a virtual meeting of dozens of countries that support Ukraine. Russia´s original strategic objectives, including overthrowing the government in Kyiv, “are not achievable militarily, they´re not going to be done,” Milley said.

At the same time, there are hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers in Ukraine, making Kyiv´s objective of recapturing all of its territory unlikely “in the near term,” he said. “That means fighting is going to continue, it´s going to be bloody, it´s going to be hard. And at some point, both sides will either negotiate a settlement or they´ll come to a military conclusion.”