Gen. Mark Milley, head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Tuesday that Russia had lost “strategically, operationally and tactically” in Ukraine and that “it is paying a huge price on the battlefield,” Reuters and News.ro reported.

Milley, speaking at a joint news conference with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Brussels, said President Vladimir Putin believed he could quickly defeat Ukraine when he ordered his troops to invade nearly a year ago.

“Putin was wrong. Ukraine remains free. They remain independent. NATO and its coalition have never been stronger. Now Russia is a world pariah, and the world remains inspired by the courage and resilience of Ukrainians. In short, Russia has lost – it has lost strategically, operationally and tactically, and is paying a huge price on the battlefield,” he said.

Milli is in Brussels with Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin for a meeting of defense ministers of NATO member countries.

Despite his statements this Tuesday, the American general said in January that it would be “very difficult” for Kyiv’s troops to withdraw the Russian army from the territory of Ukraine by the end of the year.

“Militarily, I continue to maintain that it will be very, very difficult to expel Russian forces from all occupied territories of Ukraine,” US Chief of Staff General Mark Milley said at a meeting of allies on military support in Kyiv.

“That doesn’t mean it can’t happen. But it will be very, very difficult,” he stressed.

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