U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, long since schooled to never again say it’s “time for negotiations,” predicted Ukraine’s counteroffensive will be long and “very violent” following a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contract Group in Brussels June 15. In his joint press conference with Lloyd Austin, Milley refused to provide any timeline for the counteroffensive: “This is a very difficult fight. It’s a very violent fight, and it will likely take a considerable amount of time and at high cost"—which NATO urges Ukraine to pay. (https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/3429774/secretary-of-defense-lloyd-j-austin-iii-and-joint-chiefs-of-staff-chairman-gene/)
Scott Ritter, writing in Sputnik June 17, assesses “Ukraine lacks the military capacity to overcome Russian defenses.
“Ukraine’s most elite assault brigades, equipped with the latest Western military technology, failed to advance out of what Russian defensive doctrine calls the ‘cover’ line of defense—the buffer that is designed to channel and disrupt an attacking force prior to reaching the “main” line of defense. Ukrainian casualties were extremely heavy, with Russia achieving a 10:1 kill ratio in terms of manpower, which is unsustainable from the Ukrainian perspective. The reasons for the Ukrainian failure are fundamental in nature.”
