Top Ukraine-US military leaders meet over ‘urgent needs'

The top United States military officer travelled to Poland and talked with his Ukrainian counterpart face to face for the first time since the Russia’s war on Ukraine began on Feb 24.

US Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met for a couple of hours with Ukraine’s chief military officer, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, at an undisclosed location in southeastern Poland near the border with Ukraine.

General Zaluzhnyi said he outlined his forces’ “urgent needs” on Tuesday with Mark Milley.

The meeting comes as the international community ramps up military assistance to Ukraine, including expanded training of Ukrainian troops by the US and the provision of a Patriot missile battery, tanks and increased air defence and other weapons systems by the US and a coalition of European and other nations.

It also marks a key time in the war. Ukraine’s troops face fierce fighting in the eastern Donetsk province, where Russian forces – supplemented by thousands of private Wagner Group contractors – seek to turn the tide after a series of battlefield setbacks in recent times.

Army Colonel Dave Butler, a spokesman for Milley, said the two generals felt it was important to meet in person.

“They’ve talked in detail about the defence that Ukraine is trying to do against Russia’s aggression. And it’s important – when you have two military professionals looking each other in the eye and talking about very, very important topics, there’s a difference,” Butler said.

He said there had been some hope that Zaluzhnyi would travel to Brussels for a meeting of NATO and other defence chiefs this week. But when it became clear on Monday that it would not happen, Milley and Zaluzhnyi quickly decided to meet in Poland, near the border.

While several US civilian leaders have gone into Ukraine, the administration of US President Joe Biden has made it clear that no uniformed military service members will enter Ukraine other than those connected to the embassy in Kyiv. Butler said only a small group – Milley and six of his senior staffers – travelled by car to the meeting.

He said the meeting will allow Milley to relay Zaluzhnyi’s concerns and information to the other military leaders during the NATO chiefs’ meeting.

Milley, he said, will be able to “describe the tactical and operational conditions on the battlefield and what the military needs are for that, and the way he does that is one by understanding it himself but by also talking to Zaluzhnyi on a regular basis”.

Milley also will be able to describe the new US training of Ukrainian forces at the Grafenwoehr training area in Germany. More than 600 Ukrainian troops have begun the expanded training programme.