Ex-CIA boss Petraeus: Kiev’s victory “increasingly likely”

The former head of the US foreign intelligence service CIA David Petraeus believes that Ukraine’s chances of winning the war once morest Russia are high. It seems “increasingly likely that Ukrainian forces will be able to recapture much, if not all, of the areas that have been occupied by Russian forces in recent months,” Petraeus told the “Bild” newspaper (Saturday edition).

He believes that Russia’s military success is “very unlikely”. A prerequisite for a Ukrainian success, however, is that NATO “and other Western countries” continue to “provide resources at the current pace,” said Petraeus. In that case, according to the general, Ukrainian forces would be able to “stop further Russian advances” and begin “to recapture the territories captured by the Russians since February 24.”

In the meantime, the heads of state and government of NATO member states and other western nations have recognized that a Russian victory would be “catastrophic for European security”. They would therefore take the “necessary measures to ensure that Russia cannot succeed”.

Petraeus is one of the most prominent representatives of the military in the USA. He was commander in chief of US troops in Iraq, NATO forces in Afghanistan and chief of US Central Command. In 2012, he resigned as head of the CIA for leaking confidential information to his biographer and lover, Paula Broadwell. After admitting guilt, he was sentenced to a two-year suspended sentence and a $100,000 fine in 2014 for leaking secrets.