General Ben Hodges Calls Event That Will Change Course Of War

It is not connected with the successes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the eastern front.

The liberation of the Crimea from the Russian occupation army could be a decisive part of Russia's war against Ukraine. However, for the successful de-occupation of the peninsula, it is necessary that international partners, in particular the United States, openly declare that they want Ukraine to win.

At the same time, successes in the east of Ukraine will not have such a strategic effect as the liberation of the Crimean peninsula. This was stated in an interview with Newsbreak by retired U.S. Lieutenant General Ben Hodges.

Hodges said the tide of the war could change very quickly if the U.S. decided it wanted Ukraine to win and to agree that liberating Crimea is the key to Ukraine winning. He praised all the good things that the U.S. administration has done in providing military support, but the clear statement on Ukraine’s victory is still missing.

“You could kill every Russian within 200 kilometres of Bakhmut and it would not change the strategic outcome, but you liberate Crimea and then I think you completely change the entire strategic context. But what's missing is that the president, the administration, has not said publicly “we want Ukraine to win,” Hodges has stated.

Hodges believes that the reason for this was because the U.S. is not confident in the outcome yet. He added that while Biden has done a good job of keeping allies together, the U.S. and its European partners are also anxious about what will happen if the Russian dictator Putin is gone.”

“People haven't gotten their heads around the idea that Russia is going to be defeated here, they're having a hard time with that. I think that the administration also is overly concerned about the risk of Russia somehow escalating to a nuclear conflict,” Hodges explained.