An insider has given a scathing assessment of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, announcing that “the Russians have failed every time” since the war began.
After a meeting of the Ukrainian Defense Contact Group, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, told reporters that the invaders had been humiliated at every turn.
“The Russians have failed every time. They have lost strategically, they have lost operationally and, I repeat, they have lost tactically,” he said during the press conference.
“What they have tried to do they have failed.
“The strategic rethinking of their goals, of their illegal invasion, they have all failed, every single one of them.”
He said those failures specifically included the failure to “invade all of Ukraine” at the start of the invasion, which began on February 24, as well as the decision to refocus on the Donbas region and capture of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, which was recently. released
“Along the entire front-line route of about 900 kilometers, the Ukrainians have achieved success after success, and the Russians have failed every time,” he said.
However, he admitted that a Ukrainian military victory, in which the defending army managed to drive out all Russian troops, was not likely to happen soon, although he stated that there could be a “political solution” that would see withdrawal from Russia.
“The Russian army does a lot of damage. So you want to negotiate at a time when you are at your strengths and your opponent [its] weakness,” he said.
“And it’s possible, maybe, that there is a political solution.”
Confusion due to the explosion of deadly missiles
The comments come after a missile hit a Polish village yesterday, killing two and sparking fears of possible major military fallout.
The missile was originally widely assumed to have been fired by Moscow when it landed amid a fresh barrage of rockets launched against Ukraine from Russia, although the Kremlin vehemently denied the allegation.
However, while Polish President Andrzej Duda confirmed that a “Russian-made missile” was likely behind the explosion in the village of Przewodów, 8km from the border with Ukraine, he later said it was likely fired by Ukraine’s air defense, meaning the tragedy was presumably a mistake. .
“There is absolutely nothing to indicate that this was a deliberate attack in Poland,” he said, adding that it was an “unfortunate accident”.
His words eased the panic that had been building around the world. If the rocket had been fired by Russian forces, NATO member Poland could have enacted Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which could force Western bloc members to declare war on Moscow.
But while most of the international community has accepted this assessment, most agree that Russia is ultimately to blame as a result of its illegal invasion.
“Let me be clear, this is not Ukraine’s fault. Russia bears the ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine,” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said.
“Russia is responsible for what happened in Poland yesterday, because this is a direct result of the ongoing war and Russia’s wave of attacks against Ukraine yesterday.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied that Ukraine was responsible for the blast.
“I have no doubt that this is not our missile,” Zelensky said in a televised speech.
“I believe this was a Russian missile, according to our military reports.”
Russia’s humiliating retreat
It comes after Russian troops were forced to withdraw from a small but key region of Ukraine earlier this month, with more than 30,000 troops pulling out of Kherson, just six weeks after Putin declared that Kherson would remain in Russian hands “forever”.
Russia also recently withdrew from Kharkiv, with Moscow now occupying around 20 percent of Ukraine, nearly nine months after the start of the invasion, which was initially expected to last a few days and lead to the fall of ukrainian government