Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine is far from over, and the West must prepare for a years-long commitment to support the government in Kyiv, guard NATO’s eastern border and gird for the revival of an era of great-power conflict, top Pentagon leaders said Tuesday.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley, testifying together on Capitol Hill for the first time since Russia’s invasion began more than five weeks ago, painted a grim picture of a world that is “trending toward greater instability,” with Russia’s attack a likely precursor to much larger, more destructive wars involving the U.S., Russia, Europe and China.
The defense officials rejected direct comparisons between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a potential Chinese offensive on Taiwan, but they acknowledged in sometimes combative testimony before the House Armed Services Committee that Beijing, like Moscow, is looking to upset the international rules-based order and expand its power.
While Russian forces have begun to withdraw from the outskirts of Kyiv and refocus their invasion on Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, Gen. Milley cautioned that there will be more bloodshed. The U.S., he said, should make preparations now to aid Ukraine in what is likely to be a lengthy battle.
“I do think this is a very protracted conflict. But I think it’s at least measured in years. I don’t know about a decade, but years for sure,” he said. “This is a very extended conflict that Russia has initiated and I think NATO, the United States, Ukraine, and all of the allies and partners that are supporting Ukraine are going to be involved in this for quite some time.”
Gen. Milley and Mr. Austin faced tough questions from some Republican lawmakers who said that the two men, with President Biden, failed to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine and have built up a track record of misplaced policy priorities and bad foreign policy assessments in Afghanistan, Ukraine and elsewhere.
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On Ukraine specifically, Mr. Austin argued that nothing was going to stop Mr. Putin, short of putting U.S. and NATO troops inside Ukraine, a move that could have sparked a major world war.
“I do not believe that our campaign has failed,” Mr. Austin said. “This is still in progress and there is a price to be paid by Putin for what he’s done.”
“If we put forces into Ukraine to fight Putin, this would be a different story,” he added. “But we made a decision that we weren’t going to do that and we made the decision for the right reasons and I support those decisions.”
But Gen. Milley acknowledged the war could have consequences far beyond the immediate theater in eastern Europe, calling Russia’s decision to invade “the greatest threat to peace and security of Europe and perhaps the world in my 42 years of service in uniform.”
The Pentagon leaders’ appearance before lawmakers Tuesday, ostensibly to discuss the Defense Department’s fiscal 2023 budget request, came amid global outrage over alleged war crimes Russian troops committed in Bucha, Ukraine, and other regions before pulling back from Kyiv. Shocking images from Bucha seem to show civilians who were executed at close range, some with bullets to the head and some with their hands bound. Others appeared to have had their throats slashed.
The gruesome photos have sparked fury aimed directly at Mr. Putin and his allies inside the Kremlin. They’ve also sparked new calls to expel Russia from key international bodies such as the United Nations.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday questioned the effectiveness of the U.N. if Russia, as one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, can simply veto almost any major action proposed by the world body.
In a chilling video message to the Security Council, Mr. Zelenskyy described what he had seen and heard Monday on a visit to Bucha.
“Women were raped and killed in front of their children,” he said, comparing the atrocities to actions from terrorist groups such as ISIS. “But here it’s being done by a member of the United Nations Security Council.”
He said Russia has committed similar actions in other areas it has occupied following the invasion of Ukraine.
“Russian troops are deliberately destroying Ukrainian cities to ashes with artillery and airstrikes. They are deliberately blocking cities [and] creating mass starvation,” Mr. Zelenskyy said. “They are deliberately shooting columns of civilians on the road who are trying to escape.”
Mr. Zelenskyy called for a wholesale reform of the United Nations. Allowing a nation such as Russia to wield its veto power without consequences “undermines the whole architecture of global security,” he said.
The Kremlin has denied allegations of war crimes. Russian officials this week said the photos and videos coming out of Bucha are little more than Ukrainian propaganda designed to stir up anti-Russian sentiment.
Beefing up in Europe
But the atrocities will provide even more fuel for NATO to harden its defenses in Eastern Europe and ramp up direct security assistance to Ukraine. While there are already tens of thousands of U.S. troops stationed in Europe, Gen. Milley discussed the potential for new American bases and a larger U.S. troop commitment in those Eastern European nations that are on the front lines facing direct Russian aggression.
“My advice would be to create permanent bases but don’t permanently station [forces], so you get the effect of permanence by rotational forces cycling through permanent bases,” he said. “I believe that a lot of our European allies, especially those such as the Baltics or Poland and Romania, and elsewhere — they’re very, very willing to establish permanent bases. They’ll build them, they’ll pay for them.”
The Pentagon’s top civilian and military leaders also sparred with lawmakers over the question of whether Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may make a Chinese invasion of Taiwan more likely.
Mr. Austin cautioned lawmakers against drawing parallels between the two crises, even though Beijing has given the Kremlin strong rhetorical support in its clash with the West so far.
Rep. Mike Gallagher, Wisconsin Republican, pressed Mr. Austin on whether the Western allies’ response to Russia’s invasion would have any impact on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s calculus regarding Taiwan.
“I think that it’s not advisable to make direct comparisons between Ukraine and Taiwan,” Mr. Austin said. “These are two completely different scenarios, two different theaters.”
“I don’t want to speculate about what is in Mr. Xi’s head,” he added, “but I think as the world looks at this they’ve been impressed by the commitment, the resolve of many countries in the world to resist that kind of behavior.”
Tuesday’s lengthy House hearing also featured a heated clash between Mr. Austin and Rep. Matt Gaetz, Florida Republican, who used his question time to charge that Mr. Austin and other Pentagon leaders have compromised U.S. military superiority in favor of embracing socialist ideologies and teaching critical race theory to recruits.
The accusations from Mr. Gaetz seemed to infuriate the typically calm, reserved Mr. Austin, who became visibly agitated in the face of increasingly intense questioning.
Mr. Austin initially responded by saying he would let the Pentagon’s budget request “speak for itself,” but he responded forcefully when Mr. Gaetz then charged that Russia and China are outpacing the U.S. in hypersonic weapons development.
“What do you mean we’re behind in hypersonics? How do you make that assessment?” Mr. Austin said.
“I don’t know. I make that assessment because China is fielding hypersonic weapons systems, and we are still developing them,” Mr. Gaetz replied. “I make that assessment because Russia actually used one.”
“While everyone else in the world seems to be developing capabilities and being more strategic,” Mr. Gaetz continued, “we’ve got time to embrace critical race theory at West Point, to embrace socialism at the National Defense University, to do mandatory pronoun training” in the military.
Mr. Austin then responded with an explosive accusation of his own.
“Again, this is the most capable, the most combat-credible force in the world. It has been and it will be so going forward,” he said. “And this budget helps us to do that. The fact that you’re embarrassed by your country … I’m sorry for that.”
“I’m embarrassed by your leadership,” Mr. Gaetz responded. “I’m not embarrassed by my country. I wish we were not losing to China. That is so disgraceful that you would sit here and conflate your failures with the failure of the uniformed service members.”
Mr. Austin said charges that U.S. analysts misjudged how the Ukraine war would play out needed to be balanced by the fact that U.S. and Western military support has helped Kyiv largely hold off a bigger invasion force for far longer than many predicted.
“Has it occurred to you that Russia has not overrun Ukraine because of what we’ve done and our allies have done?” Mr. Austin asked Mr. Gaetz. “Have you ever even thought about that?”
• Mike Glenn and Joseph Clark contributed to this report.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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