James Stavridis, a former NATO supreme allied commander for Europe, said on Sunday that the Russia-Ukraine conflict will likely conclude in four to six months, with a “frozen conflict” ending similar to the Korean War.
Stavridis discussed the state of the war during a WABC 770 AM radio interview with New York businessman John Catsimatidis, where he remarked that it was “extremely obvious” the conflict has “bogged down on both sides.”
“The Ukrainians are putting up a very strong fight,” Stavridis said. “[Vladimir] Putin’s war plans have proven to be not particularly effective. He has gained a little bit of territory over what he started the conflict with.”
He continued: “I see this one headed toward a Korean War ending, which is to say an armistice, a militarized zone between the two sides, ongoing animosity, kind of a frozen conflict. Look for that in a four-to-six-month period. Neither side can sustain it much beyond that.”
The Korean War was fought between North and South Korea between 1950 and 1953, with the then-Soviet Union backing North Korea while South Korea was aided by the United States. The conflict between the two countries ceased with an armistice in July 1953, which created a demilitarized zone.
However, because no formal peace treaty was signed in the ensuing years, the two countries still technically remain at war.
Last week, an official at the Department of Defense stated that US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, were having a “significant impact” in aiding Ukraine against Russian military forces.
“I think there has been significant impact on what’s going on, on the front lines,” the official said on Friday. “If you think about the fact that the Ukrainians have been talking about a number of the targets [they] are hitting … they’re spending a lot of time striking targets like ammunition, supplies, other logistical supplies, command and control. And all those things have a direct impact on the ability to conduct operations on the front line.”
The official added that Ukraine was taking more time to to strike “targets like ammunition, supplies, other logistical supplies, command and control.”
Last week, Ukraine announced that it had destroyed a Russian ammunition warehouse in the city of Nova Kakhovka, located in the Kherson Oblast, in a missile strike.
In May, Stavridis told Catsimatidis of some of the ongoing issues with the war, including the unprecedented numbers of casualties endured by Russia among its higher ranks.
RGW-90 rocket launcher in Ukraine. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
“In modern history, there is no situation comparable in terms of the deaths of generals. … Here, on the Russian side, in a two-month period, we’ve seen at least a dozen, if not more, Russian generals killed,” he said at the time.
Stavridis added that “not a single general was lost in actual combat” while the US engaged in wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
