London, Feb 16 : General Mark Milley, Chairman of US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said that neither Russia nor Ukraine is likely to achieve their military aims, and he believes the war will end at the negotiating table, The Guardian reported.
The Pentagon is re-examining its weapons stockpiles and may need to boost military spending after seeing how quickly ammunition has been used during the war in Ukraine, Milley said in an interview with the Financial Times.
While he did not tie the depletion of stockpiles to his support for peace talks, Milley said he still believed the war would end at the negotiating table, The Guardian reported.
He said, “It will be almost impossible for the Russians to achieve their political objectives by military means. It is unlikely that Russia is going to overrun Ukraine. It’s just not going to happen.”
It would also be “very, very difficult for Ukraine this year to kick the Russians out of every inch of Russian-occupied Ukraine”, he said, adding, “It’s not to say that it can’t happen… But it’s extraordinarily difficult. And it would require essentially the collapse of the Russian military.”
On Tuesday, Milley said Russia has lost “strategically, operationally and tactically” during a joint news conference with the US Defence Secretary, Lloyd Austin, The Guardian reported.
He said at the time, “Russia is a global pariah and the world remains inspired by Ukrainian bravery and resilience. In short, Russia has lost – they’ve lost strategically, operationally and tactically and they are paying an enormous price on the battlefield”.(IANS)