Russia lost strategically, operationally, and tactically in an unprovoked war against Ukraine, U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley said at a briefing following a meeting of the Ukrainian Defense Contact Group (called "Rammstein-7"), which took place online -format.
The US general said Russia made a huge strategic mistake by starting a war against Ukraine. Milley said that in February, Russia made a choice to carry out an illegal invasion of Ukraine, which posed no threat to it.
According to him, the Russian authorities, in making this decision, set several goals: to overthrow President Volodymyr Zelensky and his government, to gain overland access to the Black Sea through the capture of Odessa, to capture everything up to the Dnieper River and, in addition, continue to attack towards the Carpathian Mountains, and capture all over Ukraine.
However, as Milley emphasized, Russia failed because it did not achieve these goals.
According to him, the Russians lost in achieving strategic goals, and now they are losing in achieving operational and tactical goals. "Russia changed the goals of the war in March and early April. Her war of choice was then focused on capturing Donbas - Donetsk and Lugansk regions. These were her operational goals, and they failed to achieve this," he added that Russia decided to expand the goals and capture the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
"All these rethought strategic goals were not achieved. Each of them," Milley emphasized and recalled the retreat of Russian troops from Kherson.
Also, according to him, it is obvious that the Russian will cannot be compared with the Ukrainian will to fight.
"Across the entire front line, about 900 km long, the Ukrainians got success after success. And the Russians failed each time. They lost strategically. They lost operationally, and I repeat, they lost tactically. What they tried to do, they failed." Milley emphasized.
According to him, Russia could take a different decision and end the war. “And they can make this choice today to end the war. However, the Russians are using their time to regroup their forces. And they are using a campaign of terror, a campaign of maximum suffering for the Ukrainian civilian population, to destroy Ukrainian morale,†Milley said.
