General Hodges: Ukraine has achieved irreversible momentum

During Warsaw Security Forum on Tuesday (October 4), TVN24 reporter Jan Niedziałek and former commander of United States Army Europe, General Ben Hodges, discussed the situation in Ukraine as the country struggles with Russian military invasion.

"I think we’re in a situation where Ukraine has achieved irreversible momentum – there’s no going back. We know from history that war is a test of will, and it’s a test of logistics. Clearly, Ukrainian soldiers have superior will to what we see of Russian soldiers. Ukrainian people have superior will to what we see of the Russian population, I mean look at the hundreds of thousands of people that left, rather than be involved in this war. We know that as a test of logistics, the Russian logistics system is exhausted, it’s fragile," General Ben Hodges said.

According to the general, the Ukrainians realized this back ifact already in May and began to plan a counteroffensive in anticipation of Russia’s collapse in August. "They’re not going to have time to fix that, the Russians."

"So, this is why I’m optimistic – too early to celebrate, too early to plan a victory parade – but I am confident that Ukraine is going to push the Russian forces back to the 23^rd of February line by the end of this year, and that then they will be in control of Crimea by next summer," he added.

Gen. Hodges also argued that "the Kremlin is not able to do anything to stop Ukraine". "I mean, these 300,000 so-called reservists that have been called up, mobilised – who knows what the real number is – they’re going to be sent into battle untrained, unprepared, disorganised - which is criminal. But that’s what’s going to happen, because the Kremlin is going to try and use them to prolong the conflict, in hopes that we – US, UK, Poland, Germany – that we will lose interest and no longer support (Ukraine – edit.). So that’s what they’re trying to do - that’s not gonna happen," he said.

"What will happen is Ukraine is going to continue to defeat Russian forces and at some point – and I think that’s the point of your question – do they accept that, do they try to escalate somewhere else, do people around Putin take matters into their own hands because they realize that he has created a catastrophe that’s not gonna get better, or do somehow they decide the use of their nuclear weapon would change the outcome," the general continued.

"It’s not gonna change the outcome, it will kill more people, but it will give no advantage to Russia. And then the US will become directly involved and I think most people at the Kremlin realise that would be the end of it for Russia," the former commander of U.S. Army Europe underscored.

Ben Hodges also stressed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was aware that "the centre of gravity for the response of the West is cohesion".

"And all of us are sticking together on sanctions, all of us are sticking together on providing capabilities to Ukraine, so that Ukraine can achieve a victory, to win in this war. So he’s doing everything he can to break that cohesion – the threat of nuclear war, the cutting-off of gas, and now the sabotage of the pipelines in the Baltic Sea. This is all Russia attempting to cause us to want to break away," he explained.