The Ukrainian military in 2023 is unlikely to be able to push out Russian troops and regain lost territories, General Mark Milley, chairman of the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview with Defense One.
Milley noted that regaining control of the lost territories is “a very, very difficult military task.” “I’m not saying it can’t be done. I say that this is a very difficult task. But it’s theirs [Украины] target. They certainly have the right to do so, this is their country,” the general said. At the same time, he stressed that he “does not think that this will happen in the near future, this year.”
Milli recalled that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had repeatedly announced his intention to reach the 1991 borders (within these borders, Ukraine included Donbass and Crimea). Crimea became part of Russia after a referendum in 2014, and the DPR and LPR, as well as the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, according to the results of a vote held in September 2022. Ukraine and most other countries consider the referenda illegal, Russia emphasizes that the issue of ownership of these territories has been resolved for it.
Source: Rosbalt
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