Ukraine Latest: Top US General Doubts a Kyiv Victory This Year

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(Bloomberg) — Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Ukraine was unlikely to expel all Russian troops from its occupied territory this year. “That is a significant military task,” Milley told Defense One. 

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President Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowed again to drive Russia out of Ukraine as he marked the one-year anniversary of the liberation of Bucha, the town northwest of Kyiv that suffered a brutal occupation by Kremlin troops in the early weeks of the war. 

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Vladimir Putin approved a new foreign policy concept that set out to confront the US and its allies as hostile, claiming an “era of revolutionary changes” was underway. The International Monetary Fund’s board signed off on a $15.6 billion aid package for Ukraine, the final approval for the institution’s first-ever loan to a nation at war.  

Key Developments

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(All times CET)

Top US General Says Ukrainian Victory Unlikely This Year (8 a.m.) 

Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview that Ukraine is unlikely to expel all Russian troops from its borders this year, calling that a “very, very difficult military task.”  

Ukraine’s president “has publicly stated many times that the Ukrainian objective is to kick every Russian out of Russian occupied Ukraine. And that is a significant military task,” Milley told Defense One in an interview posted on Friday. “You’re looking at a couple hundred thousand Russians who are still in Russian-occupied Ukraine. I’m not saying it can’t be done. I’m just saying it’s a very difficult task.” 

Milley said US ATACMS long-range missiles were not currently in the picture for Ukraine. “We have relatively few ATACMS, we do have to make sure that we maintain our own munitions inventories, as well,” he said.  

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US Prepares to Give $2.6 Billion in Military Aid (10:45 p.m.)

The US is planning to release a package of military assistance to Ukraine valued at $2.6 billion, according to an official who asked not to be identified in advance of an announcement likely to come on Monday.

The latest weapons package includes $2.1 billion under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, including a resupply of Nassam air defense missiles and radar. A $500 million drawdown from existing American equipment includes additional ammunition, the official said. 

The planned assistance was reported earlier by Reuters.

Zelenskiy Again Urges China to Talk With Him About Peace (7:16 p.m.)

Zelenskiy reaffirmed that Kyiv seeks contacts with Chinese authorities to discuss his proposed formula for peace.

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“Everything must be done to involve the maximum number of countries in the victory in this war,” Zelenskiy said at a  joint news conference with leaders of Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia and Moldova. “We send signals and say that we are ready to meet and talk. We are waiting for answers.”

While the US and other allies have said China’s own proposal involves a cease-fire that would freeze in place territory captured by Russia, Zelenskiy has stopped short of spurning China’s efforts to mediate as intended to help its ally Putin.

IMF Loan Is Biggest Since Russia Invaded Ukraine (6:29 p.m.)

The IMF’s executive board approved the four-year, $15.6 billion loan to Ukraine on Friday, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified before it’s announced publicly. The loan is the nation’s biggest since Russia invaded the country in February 2022. 

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A group of Ukraine’s creditors supported the unprecedented deal, which required the IMF to change its lending rules, with assurances that they’d extend a debt repayment standstill for the duration of the program. The creditors — Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US — urged other bilateral and private lenders to help restore debt sustainability for Ukraine, whose economy has shrunk by about a third after Russia’s invasion last year.

Read the full story here.

Putin Signs New Foreign Policy Against ‘Hostile’ West (3:17 p.m.)

Putin signed a 42-page policy document that argues the US is “the source of fundamental risks to the security of the Russian Federation” and most European states are pursuing an “aggressive policy” aimed at undermining Russia’s sovereignty. 

The policy “serves as a solid doctrinal basis for our further work on international affairs,” Putin told a meeting of his Security Council. Russia will seek to boost ties with “constructive partners” and create “conditions for unfriendly states to abandon their hostile policy toward our country,” he said.

Russia intends to deepen relations with China and India, and to make military aid to Latin American nations facing “US pressure” a priority of its foreign policy, according to the document.