Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of State 64-year-old Gen. Mark Miley said recently that it is very unlikely for Ukraine to end the war in 2023, throwing cold water on Ukraine’s 45-year-old President Volodymr Zelensky. Zelensky promised with all cash and new military hardware Kiev would defeat Russia by year’s end. Zelensky has been touting his spring counteroffensive, seeking to take back more sovereign territory from the Russian Federation. During the first year of war, Zelensky lost some 25% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory, now, in 2023, promising to take it back. Miley confirmed that Zelensky’s plan to take back all Russian occupied territory won’t happen in 2023, barring some miracle. “I don’t think it’s likely to be done in the near term this year,” Miley said, in another faux pas, telling the truth about the Ukraine War. Miley said before that there’s no military solution in Ukraine.
President Joe Biden, 80, has been promising to vanquish the Russian Federation by giving Ukraine unlimited cash-and-weapons to battle the Kremlin. Biden keeps telling U.S. allies, especially in the E.U., that with more cash-and-weapons to Ukraine, he can beat the Russian Federation. No one, other than Biden, thinks the goal of the Ukraine war should be vanquishing the Kremlin. Before the war started Feb. 24, 2022, the U.S. was supplying Kiev offensive and defensive weapons. Dating back to March 1, 2014, the day Putin seized the Crimean Peninsula, the U.S. has been supplying Kiev arms with which to stave off a Russian invasion. When the invasion started last year, Putin had warned Biden and the EU that if the arms shipments to Ukraine didn’t stop, he would implement a “special military operation.” Biden refused to negotiate a new security arrangement with Putin for months before the invasion.
Biden called the Russian invasion an “unprovoked and unjustified “a naked land grab” when Putin had given Biden months of advance notice about his “special military operation.” No one from the West wants to acknowledge that the Kremlin saw U.S. arms supplies to Kiev as a threat to Russian national security. Zelensky lost some 25% of Ukraine’s sovereign territory in the first year, now hopes through a series of deadly counteroffensives to get back his land. Miley let the U.S. and Kiev know that it was extremely unlikely to get back their sovereign land in 2023. Miley was admonished by the Biden White House for saying in 2022 that there was no military solution to the Ukraine War. Miley wanted to inform the allies that there was no military solution in Ukraine, only a political one. Miley’s honesty doesn’t sit well at the White House or in Kiev, both seeking military victory.
Miley has been the lone voice in the Biden administration telling the truth about the Ukraine War. “Zelensky has publicly stated many times that the Ukrainian objective is to kick Russia our of Russia-occupied territory. Miley is the only administration official to acknowledge that Putin had troops in Donetsk, Luhansk and Crimea before the war. With all the hype by Zelensky, Biden thinks Ukraine is on the verge of driving Russia out of Ukraine. Russia occupied the Donbas region before the war began, something Zelensky doesn’t acknowledge. “And that is a significant military task. Very, very difficult military task, you’re looking at a couple hundred thousand Russians who are still in Russian-occupied Ukraine,” Miley said. Miley knows that so much land has been lost to the Kremlin in Ukraine, Kiev no longer controls the Black Sea coast and its strategic ports.
Zelensky, with U.S. cash-and-weapons says he wants to take back the Crimean Peninsula, taken by Putin March 1, 2014. Taking back Crimea would be a major escalation in the war, anticipating more deaths and destruction to Ukraine dilapidated infrastructure. No one in the White House wants to admit that the military and human costs to trying take over Crimea would be staggering. Putin controlled Crimea before the Ukraine War and likely will control it after the conflict ends. Zelensky has asked Biden for ATACMS long-range missiles and fighter jets, something so far Biden has refused. “The range of ATACMS is bigger, but there rare other systems that can provide the same range,” Miley said, resisting Zelensky’s requests. No matter what Zelensky gets, he always wants more because he’s lost so much sovereign territory. Zelensky can’t get enough U.S. cash-and-weapons.
Miley’s the only U.S. official saying that Kiev can’t accomplish its fantasy mission with the Russian Federation. Miley wants both parties to come to the bargaining table to end the conflict, believing that Ukraine has a better chance of reclaiming lost sovereign territory through negotiation. As it stands now, Ukraine plans to spend the next several months battling the Russian Federation. Biden and Zelensky show no interest in moving the conflict to the peace table because they fear Putin will not give up the fight. If you listen to the fake news, there’s more talk by so-called experts about Putin’s allege terminal illness or a band of Oligarchs looking to assassinate him. Miley’s smart enough to know that Putin will continue to battle Kiev, no matter what Zelensky throws at him. Saying there’s only a political solution in Ukraine, Miley’s the only U.S. official telling the truth.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
