Top US expert claims Putin has failed ‘every single’ objective in Ukraine invasion

A leading US expert has claimed Vladimir Putin has been annihilated in Ukraine, branding “every single” objective a resounding fail.

An insider has delivered a scathing assessment of Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine invasion, announcing that the “Russians have failed every single time” since the war began.

Following a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley told reporters the invaders had been humiliated at every turn.

“Russians have failed every single time. They’ve lost strategically, they’ve lost operationally and, I repeat, they lost tactically,” he said during the press conference.

“What they’ve tried to do, they failed at.

Russian President Vladimir Putin. Picture: Sergei Bobylyov/Sputnik/AFP

“The strategic reframing of their objectives, of their illegal invasion, have all failed, every single one of them.”

He said those failures specifically included the inability to “overrun all of Ukraine” at the beginning of the invasion, which started on February 24, as well as the decision to refocus on the Donbas region and the capture of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, which was recently liberated.

“Across the entire frontline trace of some 900 or so kilometres, the Ukrainians have achieved success after success after success, and the Russians have failed every single time,” he said.

However, he conceded that a Ukrainian military victory – in which the defending army managed to expel all Russian troops – was not likely to happen any time soon, although he claimed there might be a “political solution” that would see Russia withdraw.

“The Russian military is really hurting bad. So you want to negotiate at a time when you’re at your strength, and your opponent is at [its] weakness,” he said.

“And it’s possible, maybe, that there’ll be a political solution.”

Russia was initially expected to take over Ukraine within days. Picture: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP

Confusion over deadly missile blast

The comments come after a missile hit a Polish village yesterday, killing two and sparking fears of potentially major military consequences.

Originally, it was widely assumed that the missile had been fired by Moscow as it landed amid a fresh barrage of rockets fired at Ukraine from Russia, although the Kremlin vehemently denied the allegation.

However, while Polish president Andrzej Duda confirmed a “Russian-made missile” was likely behind the explosion in Przewodów village, 8km from the Ukraine border, he later said it was probably fired by the Ukrainian air defence, meaning the tragedy was presumably a mistake.

“Absolutely nothing indicates that this was an intentional attack on Poland,” he said adding that it was an “unfortunate accident”.

His words allayed panic that had been building across the world. If the rocket had been fired by Russian forces, Poland, a NATO member, could have enacted Article 5 of the NATO treaty, potentially forcing members of the Western bloc to declare war on Moscow.

But while most of the international community has accepted that assessment, most agree the blame ultimately lies with Russia as a result of its illegal invasion.

“Let me be clear, this is not Ukraine’s fault. Russia bears ultimate responsibility as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine,” NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said.

“Russia bears responsibility for what happened in Poland yesterday, because this is a direct result of the ongoing war and the wave of attacks from Russia against Ukraine yesterday.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied Ukraine was responsible for the blast.

“I have no doubt that this is not our missile,” Mr Zelensky said in a televised address.

“I believe that this was a Russian missile, based on our military reports.”

A woman waves a Ukrainian flag in the centre of the recently recaptured city of Kherson on November 14. Picture: Oleksandr Gimanov/AFP

Russia’s humiliating retreat

It comes after Russian soldiers were forced to retreat from a small but key region in Ukraine earlier this month, with more than 30,000 troops withdrawing from Kherson – just six weeks after Mr Putin declared Kherson would remain in Russian hands “forever”.

Russia also recently withdrew from Kharkiv, with Moscow currently occupying around 20 per cent of Ukraine, almost nine months after the invasion began, which was initially expected to last mere days and lead to the downfall of the Ukrainian government.

Originally published as Top US expert claims Putin has failed ‘every single’ objective in Ukraine invasion