Shortly before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February, General Mark Milley, the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave a pessimistic view of the prospects. One possible outcome, he told a closed congressional hearing, was that Kyiv could fall within 72 hours.
Three months later, after the Ukrainians have not only fended off the initial assault on the capital but are holding their own in a grinding ground war in the south-east of the country, Milley struck a very different note.
