Russia has already “lost” its “barbaric” war of aggression in Ukraine, the US’ highest rating military officer declared in Brussels Tuesday — because the bloody invasion nears its one-year anniversary.
“President Putin thought he could defeat Ukraine quickly, fracture the NATO alliance and act with impunity,” Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley told reporters following a gathering with NATO defense ministers within the Belgium capital, where 54 countries were represented.
“He was incorrect. Ukraine stays free. They continue to be independent. NATO and its coalition has never been stronger. And Russia is now a worldwide pariah, and the world stays inspired by Ukrainian bravery and resilience,” he continued.
“Briefly, Russia has lost; they’ve lost strategically, operationally and tacitly, they usually are paying an infinite price on the battlefield.”
Milley made the strong remarks at a joint press conference with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin Tuesday while in Brussels for a two-day meeting to debate additional aid to Ukraine with European allies.
The summit got here as Moscow was expected to redouble its offensive within the spring to capture 4 disputed eastern provinces of the previous Soviet territory, which Russia had illegally claimed without fully occupying them.
Russian troops invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 last 12 months to forestall the country from joining NATO, an intergovernmental military alliance between 28 European countries, the US and Canada.
Ukraine defenses prevented Moscow from immediately taking its capital Kyiv — or other key cities — and the war soon became a stalemated battle of attrition.
Russia has as a substitute focused on destroying infrastructure while suffering heavy losses by the hands of the heavily motivated rag-tag Ukrainian army.
Ukraine claimed last month that it had killed 117,000 Russian troops, which is greater than the variety of Americans that perished in World War I — or within the Vietnam and Korea conflicts combined.
Kyiv on Tuesday also renewed its appeal for fighter jets — but won no assurances from its Western allies.
The wartime leader had already visited the UK and France last week to lobby for combat planes.
“I don’t have any announcements on aircraft to make today,” Austin told reporters.
Nevertheless, allies pledged more weapons, ammunition and tanks as senior defense officials on the meeting said the war with Russia is approaching a “critical stage.”
“This isn’t about one single capability,” Austin said. “It’s about delivering all of the capabilities that we promised. It’s about integrating these systems together.”
Meanwhile, some leading House Republicans have mounted an effort to persuade their noninterventionist party members to drag back on its aide.
The US has spent some $113 billion in aid to Ukraine for the reason that invasion began, but some GOP members aligned with former President Donald Trump had recently introduced a “Ukraine Fatigue” resolution — calling on the US to shut its purse strings.
“America is in a state of managed decline, and it should exacerbate if we proceed to hemorrhage taxpayer dollars toward a foreign war,” sponsor Rep. Matt Gaetz (R Florida) said last week.
A poll released last week found that nearly two-thirds of Americans supported ongoing aid to Ukraine, but Democrats were more supportive of the trouble than Republicans of Independents.
With Post wires
