MILITARY SITE IN SOUTHEAST POLAND (AP) – The top military officer of the United States, Gen. Mark Milley’s army, to a position near the Ukraine-Poland border on Tuesday and spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart face-to-face for the first time – a meeting underlining the growing ties between the two militaries and coming at a critical time as war Russia with Ukraine approaching the year mark.
Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met for a few hours with the chief military officer of Ukraine, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, at an undisclosed location in southeastern Poland. The two leaders have spoken often about Ukraine’s military needs and the state of war over the past year but had never met.
The meeting comes as the international community increases military aid to Ukraine, including expanded training of Ukrainian troops by the United States and the provision of a Patriot missile battery, tanks and more air defense and other weapons systems by the United States and a coalition of European and other nations.
It also marks a key stage in the war. Ukraine’s troops are facing fierce fighting in the eastern province of Donetsk, where Russian forces – backed by thousands of private Wagner Group contractors – are trying to turn the tide after a series of battlefield setbacks in recent months.
Army Colonel Dave Butler, Milley’s spokesman, told two reporters traveling with the chairman that the two generals felt it was important to meet in person. The reporters did not accompany Milley to the meeting and, under conditions set by the army, agreed not to identify the military base in south-east Poland where they were stationed.
“These guys have been talking very regularly for about a year now, and they’ve gotten to know each other,” Butler said. “They have talked in detail about the defense that Ukraine is trying to do against Russian aggression. And it’s important – when you have two military professionals looking at each other and talking about very, very important topics, there’s a difference. “
Butler said there had been some hope that Zaluzhnyi would travel to Brussels for a meeting of NATO and other defense chiefs this week, but when it became clear on Monday that would not happen, they quickly decided to meet in Wlad Poland, near the border.
While a number of US civilian leaders have gone into Ukraine, the Biden administration has made it clear that no members of the military in uniform will go into Ukraine other than those associated with the embassy in Kyiv. Butler said only a small group – Milley and six of his senior staff – traveled by car to the meeting.
He said the meeting will allow Milley to convey Zaluzhnyi’s concerns and information to the other military leaders during the NATO chiefs meeting. Milley, he said, will be able to “describe the tactical and operational conditions on the battlefield and what the military needs are for that, and the way he does that is one through his own understanding but also through talk to Zaluzhnyi regularly. .”
Milley will also be able to describe the new training for Ukrainian forces that the United States is doing at the Grafenwoehr training area in Germany. The chairman, who got his first look at the so-called new combined arms directive during a nearly two-hour visit there on Monday, said it will better prepare Ukrainian troops to launch an offensive or counter any surge. in Russian attacks.
More than 600 Ukrainian soldiers began the extended training program at the camp just one day before Milley’s arrival.
Milley and Zaluzhnyi’s meeting kicks off a series of high-level gatherings of military and defense leaders this week. Milley and other defense chiefs will meet in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday, and then the so-called Ukraine Contact Group will gather at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Thursday and Friday. That group includes about 50 senior defense officials, including Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and they work to coordinate military contributions to Ukraine.
The meetings are expected to focus on Ukraine’s ongoing and future military needs as the harsh terrain of the winter months turns to muddy roads and fields in the spring.
After several months of losing territory it had seized, Russia claimed in recent days to have taken control of the small salt mining town of Soledar. Ukraine claims its troops are still fighting, but if Moscow’s troops take control of Soledar it would allow them to inch closer to the larger city of Bakhmut, where fighting has raged for months.
And in a barrage of airstrikes over the weekend, Russia hit Kyiv, the northeastern city of Kharkiv and the southeastern city of Dnipro, where the death toll in one apartment building rose to 44.
Western analysts point to signs that the Kremlin is digging in for a drawn-out war, and say the Russian military command is preparing for an expanded mobilization effort.
Follow the AP’s coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.
