By KYIV. May 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Central Command (2008-2010), former Director of the Central Intelligence Department, General David Petraeus has said he is confident that Ukraine’s counteroffensive will be successful.
He said this during the 15th annual Kyiv Security Conference on Friday, organized by the Open Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk Foundation, adding that the Ukrainian defense forces will conduct an effective combined-arms operation.
According to the general, success of Ukraine’s counteroffensive is largely due to the state of the Russian army, which has been involved in the war for 14-15 months, suffered huge losses, did not have a normal opportunity to get re-equipped and, hence, is unable to ensure integral military discipline.
Petraeus also highlighted that further assistance to Ukraine as well as its prospects of joining NATO will depend on success of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the battle field.
He stressed that a new defense line of NATO is in Ukraine whether NATO wants this or not, adding that Ukraine’s membership is NATO is inevitable, and if the invitation for Ukraine is not announced at the summit in Vilnius, then the issue will be solved in the future. At the same time, Petraeus said he would like Ukraine to receive invitation to NATO in Vilnius.
