TRANSCRIPT: “Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III and General Mark A. Milley Press Conference Following Ukraine Defense Contact Group Meeting, Ramstein Air Base, Germany [Excerpt]”

Aerial Photo of Pentagon and Environs

(U.S. Department of Defense – Jan. 20, 2023)

… General Milley: … President Biden, President Zelenskyy and most of the leaders of Europe have said that this war is likely to end in a negotiation. And from a military standpoint, this is a very, very difficult fight. This fight stretches all the way from right now, as the front line goes from all the way from Kharkiv down to Kherson, and there’s significant fighting ongoing. And it’s more or less a static front line right this minute, with the exception of Bakhmut and Soledar, with a significant offensive action going on really from both sides. The distance that — for the United States, that’s about from, I guess, Washington, D.C. to Atlanta. So that is a significant amount of territory, and in that territory are still remaining a lot of Russian forces in Russian-occupied Ukraine.

So from a military standpoint, I still maintain that for this year it would be very, very difficult to militarily eject the Russian forces from all — every inch of Ukraine and occupied — or Russian-occupied Ukraine. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen; doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but it’d be very, very difficult.

I think what can happen is a continued defense stabilized in the front. I think it’s possible to clearly do that, and I think it’s, depending on the delivery and training of all of this equipment, I do think it’s very, very possible to — for the Ukrainians to run a significant tactical- or — or even operational-level offensive operation to liberate as much Ukrainian territory as possible, and then what was — then we’ll see where it goes.

But I do think at the end of the day this war, like many wars in the past, will end at some sort negotiating table, and that’ll be determined in terms of timing by the leaders of both countries, both Russia and Ukraine. President Putin could end this war today. It — it’s — he started it. It’s his war of choice, and he could end it today because it’s turning into an absolute catastrophe for Russia: massive amounts of casualties, lots of other damage to the Russian military, et cetera. So he should and could end this war right now, right today. …

[post also appeared at defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3273771/secretary-of-defense-lloyd-j-austin-iii-and-general-mark-a-milley-press-confere/]

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