WASHINGTON –
Russia’s introduced retreat from Kherson, a regional capital in southern Ukraine that it seized early in the struggle, and a possible stalemate in combating over the winter may present each international locations a chance to barter peace, Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, mentioned Wednesday.
He mentioned as many as 40,000 Ukrainian civilians and “properly over” 100,000 Russian troopers have been killed or wounded in the struggle, now in its ninth month. “Same factor in all probability on the Ukrainian aspect,” Milley added.
“There has been an amazing quantity of struggling, human struggling,” he mentioned at The Economic Club of New York.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned Tuesday he was open to peace talks with Russia to finish the struggle however solely on the situation that Russia return all of Ukraine’s occupied lands, present compensation for struggle injury and face prosecution for struggle crimes.
Russia has mentioned it’s open to talks, and this week introduced it had begun a retreat from Kherson.
Zelenskyy has warned that the Russians are feigning a pullout from Kherson to lure the Ukrainian military into an entrenched battle in the strategic industrial port metropolis, a gateway to the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula.
Milley, the highest-ranking U.S. navy officer, mentioned Russia had amassed 20,000 to 30,000 troops in Kherson and a full retreat may take a number of weeks.
“The preliminary indicators are they’re in reality doing it. They made the general public announcement they’re doing it. I imagine they’re doing it in order to protect their power to reestablish defensive traces south of the (Dnieper) river, however that is still to be seen” he mentioned.
Milley mentioned it is potential the Russians will use the retreat to reset their troops for a spring offensive, however “there’s additionally a chance right here, a window of alternative for negotiation.”
But for negotiations to have an opportunity, each Russia and Ukraine must attain a “mutual recognition” {that a} navy victory “is perhaps not achievable by means of navy means, and subsequently it’s essential flip to different means,” Milley mentioned, citing the tip of World War I for example.