Milley: Measured pace of Ukraine’s counteroffensive not a surprise

America’s top general said he’s not surprised that Ukraine’s much-anticipated spring counteroffensive against Russia hasn’t progressed as rapidly as some analysts and commentators might have predicted.

In a speech on Friday to the National Press Club, Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said war on paper and the “real” war experienced by soldiers on the ground are entirely different.

“In ‘real’ war, ‘real’ people die. Real people are on the front lines [and] real people are in those vehicles,” Gen. Milley said. “Real bodies are being shredded by high explosives.”

Gen. Milley, who is stepping down soon, said he is receiving regular updates on the campaign through a variety of sources, including intelligence reports and frequent discussions with his Ukrainian counterpart, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny.

The Ukrainian commander has publicly expressed his frustration over public criticism that his troops are moving slower than anticipated against dug-in Russian fortifications in occupied eastern and southern Ukraine.

Gen. Milley, who is fond of historical analogies, noted that Allied progress after the Normandy invasion of World War II went much slower than anticipated at the time. Commanders back in London predicted that their soldiers would reach their assault objectives by the end of D-Day and would liberate Paris within 45 days.

“It took us 90 days to get to Paris. It was bloody, hard fighting,” he said. “People were dying. War is an extraordinarily violent human exercise.”

Ukrainian troops are advancing steadily and deliberately — 500 to 1000 yards per day — as they make their way through a heavy tangle of barbed wire and minefields that Russian troops placed in their path, Gen. Milley said. Expectations had been high because a Ukrainian offensive last fall had proved a major success, reclaiming several major cities that had been in Russian hands since the February 2022 invasion.

“I said this [counteroffensive] is going to take six, eight or ten weeks. It’s going to be very difficult, it’s going to be very long, and it’s going to be very, very bloody,” he said. “No one should have any illusions about any of that. Ukraine is fighting for its life.”

He said the U.S. and its NATO allies are providing Ukraine with as much firepower “as is humanly possible.” 

On Wednesday, the Pentagon announced a $500 million security assistance package for Ukraine, which includes more armored vehicles and more munitions for U.S.-provided Patriot air defense systems and mobile artillery rocket systems.

The latest round of assistance marked the 41st drawdown of equipment from Defense Department inventories since August 2021.

Gen. Milley is set to retire from the Army at the end of September, after an unusually contentious tenure that included public clashes with former President Trump. He told the National Press Club that his post-military plans are still up in the air but quickly knocked down any notions that he might get into politics.

“In all honesty, absolutely not,” he said. “I can make contributions to my country after I retire in many, many different ways. But public office is not one of them.”