OUR Russia won’t win the war Ukraine by military means, General Mark Milley, the head of the US National Defense Staff, repeated today, warning, however, that he considers it unlikely that Kyiv will be able to quickly oust Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine.

“This war will not be won militarily by Russia,” General Milli told reporters after a teleconference by the Contact Group on Ukraine, which represents about 50 countries providing military support to Kyiv.

However, the deployment of hundreds of thousands of Russian troops in Ukraine makes it unlikely that Kyiv’s goal of liberating the entire occupied territory “in the near future” will be achieved, Milli added.

“This means that conflicts will continue, they will be bloody and violent. And at some point, both sides will either agree or stop hostilities,” he suggested.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said today that the estimated cost of Western military assistance to Ukraine at the moment is about $65 billion.

The United States has long asked Ukraine not to use American military equipment to strike Russian territory, the head of the US National Defense Staff said today, commenting on allegations that Ukrainian saboteurs who recently invaded the Belgorod region were on American armored vehicles.

On the images of damaged vehicles published by the Russian Ministry of Defense, American Humvees are visible.

General Mark Milley said his officers are reviewing footage of vehicles allegedly used in the attack in the Belgorod region, near the border with Ukraine. “At present, I can’t say for sure – and I saw the same video – whether it was American equipment or not, what was the nature of the attack, who did what to whom,” he said at a press conference at the Pentagon. “What I can say is that we asked the Ukrainians not to use American equipment in attacks on Russian territory,” he added.

The Ukrainian government categorically denies any involvement in the Belgorod attack, which was claimed by two Russian paramilitary organizations: the Russian Volunteer Corps and the Russian Freedom Legion.

Kyiv has repeatedly assured that it will not use American long-range systems to hit targets in Russia, but will strike only at violators in the occupied Ukrainian territories.

General Milley said restrictions on US military assistance are meant to be used solely in Kyiv’s struggle to defend itself against Russian troops invading Ukraine.

“There is a war going on in Ukraine. This is not a war between the US and Russia. This is not a war between NATO and Russia,” the American general stressed.

Recently, US President Joe Biden supported the training of Ukrainian pilots in F-16 fighter jets, despite Russian warnings. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured Washington that these planes would not be used for missions in Russia.

Source: RES-IPE