Ukraine will retake Crimea from Russia in a year, says ex-US general

As Ukrainian forces intensified the counteroffensive against the Russian-controlled territories in the eastern Donbass region, retired US General. Ben Hodges on Friday said that Ukraine will retake Crimea from Russia in a year, and will be able to restore "full sovereignty." "The Ukrainians saved their country," General Hodges, the former commanding general of the United States Army Europe, told Newsweek on the sidelines of the Tbilisi International Conference. Hodges is also a lobbyist at the Centre for European Policy Analysis, a pressure group funded by NATO and US arms manufacturers that may have likely benefitted from the war. 

Ukraine Amry 'can restore full sovereignty': Ex-US General

The ex-US general noted that the Russian troops have now withdrawn from several of the occupied regions' frontlines, and have also stalled the Donbass offensive. “Half a year after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion the supposed second-best army in the world is now the second-best army in Ukraine,” with Russia’s “ability to conduct further offensive operations, all but exhausted," ex-US Army General Hodges said. He then demanded that the Biden administration must send the military aid packages to Ukraine with weapons that they need and that the deliveries must be framed in terms of the percentage of “what is needed for Ukraine to defeat Russia and regain their territory.”

"They've [Ukraine's military] set the conditions where they can restore full sovereignty, to include Crimea, I think, within the next year," said retired US General Ben Hodges.

The ex-US armed forces General also iterated that Ukraine's allies and NATO must send material and moral support to the Ukrainian forces who have been fighting against the Russian aggression for six months in a row. "There needs to be a declaration that we want Ukraine to win, that we want it to get all of its territories back, that we want it to be able to defend itself in the future, and that we're going to do everything necessary to help them do that," Hodges said. The latter insisted that these [military] needs must be fulfilled by the allies without publicly giving out the information on the weaponry and equipment supplied. "We shouldn't publicly know what those needs are, because you never want the enemy to know what your capabilities are and what your shortfalls are," he said. 

"I am 100% sure that the US Department of Defense and National Security Council know exactly what Ukraine needs, that the Ukrainians have told them that," ex US Army Gen stressed.