Ukraine offensive could have only 30 days left — US Army chief

SMA NEWS – WASHINGTON
Ukraine has little more than 30 days left of fighting before the weather hinders its counter-offensive, the top-ranking US military officer said.

Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg program, Gen. Mark Milley said colder conditions would make it much harder for Ukraine to maneuver.

He admitted the offensive had gone more slowly than expected. But he said: “There’s still heavy fighting going on.

“The Ukrainians are still plugging away with steady progress.”

Gen. Milley said it was too early to say whether the counter-offensive had failed, but said Ukraine was “progressing at a very steady pace through the Russian front lines”.

“There’s still a reasonable amount of time, probably about 30 to 45 days’ worth of fighting weather left, so the Ukrainians aren’t done.

“There’s battles not done… they haven’t finished the fighting part of what they’re trying to accomplish.”

Kyiv’s counter-offensive, which was launched in the summer and aims to liberate Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine, has so far seen only small gains.

But Ukrainian generals claim they have breached Russia’s formidable first line of defenses in the south.

“I said at the very beginning of this [war] that this was going to be long, slow, hard, and high-casualty-producing, and that’s exactly what it is,” Gen. Milley said.

In the same interview, Adm. Sir Tony Radakin, the UK chief of defense staff, said “Ukraine is winning and Russia is losing”.

“That is because the aim of Russia was to subjugate Ukraine and to put it under Russia’s control”, he said.

“That has not happened and it never will happen, and that’s why Ukraine is winning.”

He added that Ukraine was making progress in its battle to regain its territory, having recovered 50% of the ground Russia seized.

Ukraine’s progress was also down to the international community “applying economic pressure and diplomatic pressure, and Russia is suffering because of that”, he said.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin’s alliance with North Korea shows the Russian president is in a “state of desperation”, said Adm. Radakin.

He said the ties between the two countries showed how few partners Russia had left.

North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un reportedly plans to visit Russia this month to meet Putin for weapons talks.