U.S. Gen. Christopher Cavoli, commander of U.S. Eastern European Command, confirmed that Ukraine has 98% of the promised military hardware necessary to start its spring counteroffensive designed to rid the Russian army of its positions in Donetsk, Luhank and Crimea. “I am absolutely confident that we have delivered the material they need, and we will continue to work to support their operations,” said Cavoli. Cavoli confirmed that the Pentagon had delivered to Kiev 230 tanks and 1,550 armored personnel carriers to augment the Ukrainian military’s ability to drive Russia forces out of Ukraine’s sovereign territory. Cavoli, while confident with U.S. arms shipments, warned about the growing size of the Russian military despite reports about increased casualties and shrinking equipment supplies. Cavoli said the Russian ground forces are bigger than at the Feb. 24, 2022 outset of war.
Cavoli confirmed that Ukraine has almost all of the promised military hardware needed to start the spring counteroffensive to start seizing back sovereign land taking by Russia during the first year of war. If you listed to Kiev propagandists, like Minister of Military intelligence Kyrlo Budanov, you’d think the Russian military was nearing collapse or 70-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin was dying of terminal illness or subject to an imminent coup d’etat. “The Russian ground force has been degenerated somewhat by this conflict, although it is bigger today that it was at the beginning of the conflict,” Cavoli told the House Armed Services Committee yesterday. “The air force has lost very little. They’ve lost 80 planes—they have another 1,000 fighter and fighter-bombers. The navy has lost one ship,” Cavoli said, telling the House Committee that the Kremlin still has plenty of firepower.
Whether Cavoli get reprimanded after the hearing, he gave a sobering account of Russian military capabilities, very different from assessment given by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Miley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Miley and Austin’s appraisals are more aligned with Budanov’s propaganda, attesting to a serious decline in Russian military capability. “Much of the Russian military has no been affected negatively by this conflict,” a stunning appraisal from what’s reported by the White House and U.S. press. Ukraine 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky was furious when Miley told the Senate Armed Services Committee March 31 that it’s highly doubtful that Ukraine can complete its military objectives in 2023. Growing numbers in the House and Senate are seeking results or want a time table on completing the Ukraine War and moving on to peace talks.
President Joe Biden, 80, and Zelensky have rejected calls from France, China and, more recently, Brazil to move the conflict to the peace table. Miley said Nov. 16, 2022 that there’s no military solution, only a political one, to the Ukraine War. Miley said April 21 there’s “no silver bullet” for Ukraine to end the Ukraine War, even with all the new military hardware, including U.S.-made Abrams M1 and German Leopard 2 tanks. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan have rejected peace overtures made by France, Brazil and China. After speaking with Zelensky yesterday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said he would send a peace envoy to Kiev to work out contours of a peace plan submitted by China Feb. 24 on the one-year anniversary of the war. Kiev officials accused China to favoring Russia, something denied by Beijing.
Recent leaks by 21-year-old Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira showed the Pentagon assessments of Russian casualties had been grossly exaggerated. Miley said Nov. 9, 2022 that Russia has lost some 100,000 troops, clearly a gross exaggeration from Kiev’s Ministry of Intelligence. Cavoli said commended U.S. lawmakers for a resolution on “staying the course,” adding that he believed Ukraine has enough weapons to carry out their counteroffensive to reclaim lost sovereign land. Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the Russian military personnel would increase by 1.5 million, including another 695,000 contract soldiers in 2023. Whether admitted to or not by Kiev and the White House, any Kiev counteroffensive will be met with stiff resistance by Russian forces, dampening prospects of achieving military objectives in 2023 or beyond. All the more reason for peace talks.
Before Kiev’s spring counteroffensive escalates the conflict, perhaps spreading to other European countries, the White House should urgently consider numerous peace plans attempting to shift the conflict away from the battlefield. If Biden’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Miley tells him there is no military solution to the Ukraine War, why hasn’t he worked with the U.N. to reach a political solution? Letting Ukraine escalate the war with a strong counter-response from Putin does nothing but endanger European security and world peace. Instead of accusing peacemakers of taking Russia’s side, Biden should look at the destruction of Ukraine and destabilizing world peace to move the conflict to a neutral peace table. It doesn’t matter now who started the conflict or who’s at fault. What matters now is urgently ending the hostilities and settling the conflict in a neutral setting.
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.
