Russia is waging a “campaign of terror” in Ukraine, says the Pentagon
Russia has ” failed “ on all fronts in its war against Ukraine, said Wednesday the American Chief of Staff, General Mark Milley.
“The Ukrainians have had success after success after success. And the Russians have failed every time. They lost strategically, operationally and, I repeat, tactically”he said at a press conference alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
Citing the multiple failures of the Russians, including the recent withdrawal from the city of Kherson, the American general deplored that Moscow had decided to engage “a campaign of terror, a campaign aimed at inflicting maximum suffering on the Ukrainian civilian population, in order to break their morale”.
Russia carried out massive strikes on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure across the country on Tuesday, including near the Polish border, which left millions of homes without power, according to kyiv. The highest ranking American officer estimated that approximately ” A quarter “ of the Ukrainian population was without electricity due to this barrage of missiles, at least “about sixty, even up to 90 or 100”he said, speaking of the “biggest wave of missiles” fired at Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24.
“Yesterday’s blackout [mardi] clearly shows that the nuclear safety and security situation in Ukraine can suddenly get worse, increasing the risk of a nuclear emergency”said on this subject, in a press release, Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“Deliberately targeting the civilian power grid, causing excessive collateral damage and unnecessary suffering of the civilian population, is a war crime”said General Milley.
“The probability of a Ukrainian military victory, expelling the Russians from all of Ukraine (…), the probability of this happening anytime soon is not very high militarily”, he added. With the approach of winter and the probable freezing of military positions on the battlefield, this could represent an opportunity for the opening of discussions, again noted the American general.
“The Russians are really in a bad place, so you want to negotiate when you are in a strong position and your opponent is in a weak position”he added.