Senior U.S. military officials warned: the Ukrainian army may only have 30 to 45 days
Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, issued a warning
Reference News Network reported on September 11 According to Deutsche Presse and the US Newsweek website reported on September 10, Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned that there is not much time left for Ukraine's counteroffensive.
Milley said in an interview with the BBC that Ukrainian forces may have 30 to 45 days before weather complicates counteroffensive operations.
In an interview broadcast on the 10th, Milley said that in about a month, the cold weather will come. "It will rain and it will get very muddy. In that case, maneuvering will become difficult, and then there will be midwinter. ”
"There is still time, there are still 30 to 45 days of weather to fight, so the Ukrainians are not finished," Milley said. ”
He said it was too early to tell whether Ukraine's counteroffensive had failed.
According to a report on the website of Radio France Internationale on September 10, Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a recent interview with CBS that at present, neither Russia nor Ukraine has achieved their political goals through military means, and the war will continue. He noted that, in view of this, the time for negotiations had not yet arrived.
According to CBS, no other American is more deeply involved in the war in Ukraine than Milley. At 6:45 a.m. on the day of the interview, he was about to speak with the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhne. Milley said, "I talk to him every week, sometimes twice a week, sometimes three times a week."
Three hours later, Milley took a CBS reporter to a top-secret command center deep underground at the Pentagon, where all intelligence gathered from the battlefield in Ukraine was monitored by his staff officers, who were briefed daily on what was happening in the current operation.
When asked whether the United States helped the Ukrainian army choose targets, Milley said that "the right to choose targets and strike is in Ukraine." He added, "What we do is provide them with situational awareness." The reporter asked: "But you tell them, 'There's a command post over there, there's an ammunition depot over there'?" "We try to provide them with situational awareness whenever possible. ”
The reporter said, "This is really a proxy war. You are not deploying personnel on the battlefield, you are not making decisions, but you are helping Ukraine kill Russians." Milley replied: "We are helping Ukraine defend itself, and that's what we are doing." ”
Further reading:
The United States decided to supply depleted uranium shells to the Ukrainian army
Straight news: We have seen that after hesitating for a while, the United States finally followed in the footsteps of Britain and provided depleted uranium bombs to the Ukrainian army. What do you think this move means for the Russian-Ukrainian war?
Special Commentator Liu Heping: I don't think I can see anything about this matter alone, but if we link all the interaction between the United States and Ukraine in recent times, you can see that the United States and Ukraine are holding back for the Russian-Ukrainian war.
The first thing is that before providing cluster bombs to the Ukrainian army, the United States has released F-16 fighters for military aid to Ukraine, and they will be in place within a few months; Second, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken suddenly visited Ukraine and prepared to provide Ukraine with another $1 billion in armaments on the basis of the original military aid, including a large number of depleted uranium bombs; Thirdly, Ukraine abruptly removed the Minister of Defense, replacing Reznikov with Umelov. The reason given by the Ukrainian side for this is that it is because Reznikov is ineffective in fighting corruption in the army. I think that this is just a smoke bomb released by the Ukrainian side, and the real reason is that the United States and President Zelensky are ready to change their thinking by changing people, that is, to change a new set of tactical play; Fourth, a few days ago, the Ukrainian military held a secret meeting with the US military, and the Ukrainian side attended the meeting, which was attended by the then Defense Minister Reznikov, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces Zaluzhne, the director of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense Budanov, the commander of the Air Force Oleshyuk, and the director of the State Border Service Denetko, and the US side attending the meeting included Sullivan, the assistant to the president for national security affairs, Secretary of Defense Austin, and the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Milley, all of whom were the most heavyweight military officials. If there were no particularly important matters to discuss, these military leaders would not be sitting together.
So, what does this information add up? I think that means that Ukraine is going to embark on a real big counteroffensive, and the timing of the big counteroffensive is only in the last few months.
Ukraine may launch a real counteroffensive
Straight news: Didn't Ukraine launch a big counteroffensive a few months ago? Why do you say that the real Great Counteroffensive in Ukraine will begin in a couple of months?
Special commentator Liu Heping: To answer this question, we must first make a simple judgment on the current situation on the battlefield of Russia and Ukraine. My view on this is: first, at present, Russia and Ukraine are basically in a state of mutual attack and defense on the front line; Second, the Ukrainian side of the main attack, although it occupies a certain advantage, but this advantage is not obvious, only achieved some tactical successes, and did not achieve victory at the strategic level; Third, an important reason for this phenomenon is that the Ukrainian army is consciously preserving its strength and accumulating strength.
So why did the Ukrainian army close and fight after the start of the counteroffensive? To understand this, we must first look at the tactics of the Russian army. After failing to defeat Kiev, especially the entire territory of Ukraine, the Russian army was forced to withdraw its scattered forces, clenched into a fist, and attacked the four states of Wudong. After capturing the four states of Wudong, the Russian army made another adjustment, changed the original strategic offensive posture to strategic defense, and established three strong Sulovikin defense lines, while the main forces of the Russian army also hid in trenches and city ruins, ready to eliminate the Ukrainian army that came to attack.
So for the Ukrainian army, they really fell for the Russian army at the beginning, and after several days of fierce attacks, they not only lost a lot of living forces, but also damaged a large number of heavy equipment aided by the West, including Leopard 2 tanks. It was under this circumstance that the Ukrainian army, which had suffered a lot, began to comprehensively adjust its counteroffensive tactics, that is, no longer using brute force to punch and rush, but slowed down the pace of the offensive, and took advantage of the satellite and intelligence advantages and precision-guided weapons provided by the West to begin to accurately strike at Russia's military accusation centers, important infrastructure and logistics centers, especially ammunition bases. At the same time, by sending small groups of troops in front to feint, the Russian army was attracted out of the trenches and city ruins, and took the opportunity to eliminate its living forces. From the actual situation, the Ukrainian army after tactical adjustment has indeed achieved considerable results. This also means that although on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, the two sides have not had much gain or loss in position, but in essence, the strength of the two sides has been born and the other has changed.
I believe that everything the Ukrainian army has done in recent months is aimed at hollowing out the Russian army and creating conditions for the next real counteroffensive.
The United States and Ukraine are "holding back their moves"
Straight News: Then why did the United States and Ukraine decide to launch a real counteroffensive in the coming months?
Special Commentator Liu Heping: Actually, I have been stressing that this Russia-Ukraine conflict is a very complex all-round and complex war, on the surface, it seems that the soldiers of Russia and Ukraine are fighting very lively on the front line, but the economic, financial, diplomatic and international political war behind it is also very fierce. Especially for Ukraine, the game war between diplomacy and international politics is the most critical, which is related to whether Ukraine can obtain a steady stream of weapons and economic assistance, and whether this war can be fought.
Moreover, for Ukraine, the most important thing in this diplomatic and international political war is to win the support of the United States. The key to winning the support of the United States is to help Biden and the Democratic Party win the presidential election in the United States next year. If the outside world thinks that the "pro-Russian" Trump wins, then the Ukrainian army will immediately face the risk of "running out of cooking". At the same time, for Biden, only the Ukrainian army has won a big victory on the battlefield, making American voters feel that the US military aid is worth the money, which is the real booster of next year's presidential election. Understanding this, we can understand why Biden suddenly increased military assistance to Ukraine before the 2024 election, and why the United States deployed a real counteroffensive for Ukraine. There is actually a chain of interests and logic behind this, that is, Ukraine wants to help Biden win the election by fighting back and winning the war, and Biden wants to help Ukraine win the war by providing money and armaments. At the same time, only if Ukraine wins the big battle, Biden wins the election battle, and then the United States uses the Russian-Ukrainian conflict to drag down Russia's grand strategy, can continue to play.
Therefore, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the election campaign of the United States, these two "wars" actually complement each other.