Russia sees a long war ahead, US says it cannot win in Ukraine

The highest-ranking military official of the United States stated that Russia would not be successful militarily in Ukraine and that Kyiv's forces are unlikely to expel all Russian troops from their land very soon.
"Russia is not going to win this conflict militarily. It's absolutely not," US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Mark Milley stated on Thursday.

After a virtual meeting of dozens of nations that are members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, also known as the Ramstein group, Milley told journalists that Russia's original strategic goals, including overthrowing the government in Kyiv, "are not achievable militarily."

The goal of Kyiv to retake all land lost to Moscow's forces is unlikely "in the near term" due to the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers present in Ukraine, according to Milley.

That indicates that the combat will carry on, that it will be brutal, and that it will be bloody. At some point, the two parties will either engage in settlement negotiations or reach a military decision, the speaker said.

The war in Ukraine is expected to continue, according to a number of predictions, as neither side is in a position to gain a decisive victory and no negotiations are presently underway.

The war being fought by Moscow in Ukraine could last for decades, according to President Vladimir Putin's important ally and former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

In remarks reported on Thursday by the Russian news agency RIA, Medvedev portrayed a protracted struggle involving years of fighting with Ukraine, interspersed with several years of cease-fires until the fighting resumed.