During the meeting, the general was asked to assess the plans of Kiev, which wants to launch a counter-offensive to capture Donbass and seize control of both the land corridor to Crimea and the peninsula itself, to which Milley replied: “Probably this The goal, really the maximalist goal set by President Zelensky, is extremely difficult to achieve by military means” (quote from RIA Novosti).
The kyiv authorities and personally Zelensky have repeatedly announced their intention to “return Crimea.” One of the conditions for this, the Ukrainian president presented the supply of heavy weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Western countries.
Crimea reunited with Russia in 2014 after a referendum in which the vast majority of residents voted to join the Russian Federation. Since then, Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stressed that the Crimean ownership issue is “finally closed.”
