Milley: It’s ‘Extraordinarily Difficult’ for Ukraine to Achieve Military Objective This Year, ‘Maybe, If We’re Lucky’ We’ll Get Negotiations

During an interview with MSNBC aired on Thursday, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley stated that the endgame in the Russia-Ukraine war is for “the Ukrainians to decide” and that it’s extremely difficult for Ukraine to achieve its stated objective “for every single Russian to leave every single inch of Ukrainian territory” militarily this year, and “maybe, if we’re lucky, touch wood, the diplomats will enter the fray here and they’ll get to a negotiating table at some point.”

Host Joe Scarborough asked, “How do we move toward an endgame? How do we move toward a negotiated peace?”

Milley responded, “I think that’s up [to] the Ukrainians to decide that. So, what is acceptable to Ukraine, that’s territory intact, whatever that answer is going to be.”

Milley also said, “I don’t think it’s militarily possible for the Russians to achieve their initial strategic objectives — political objectives by military means. I don’t think that’s possible anymore.” And “On the flip side, the Ukrainians, I think, for this year, it would be very, very difficult, not impossible, but very, very difficult for the Ukrainians to achieve their political objectives. And their stated political objective is to — for every single Russian to leave every single inch of Ukrainian territory. I think that’s a very high bar. I think from a military standpoint only, that would be extraordinarily difficult to achieve, militarily, this year. What is achievable, I think, is significant liberation of Ukrainian territory, and maybe, if we’re lucky, touch wood, the diplomats will enter the fray here and they’ll get to a negotiating table at some point. I think, at the end of the day, President Biden, President Zelensky, every European leader has said the same thing, which is this war will end at a negotiating table, and that’s probably right.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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