Gen. Milley says fighting in Ukraine has increased

(6 Jun 2023)

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4438445

RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Colleville-Sur-Mer, France - 6 June 2023
1. Various of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Milley walking in the Normandy American Cemetery
HEADLINE: GEN. MILLEY SAYS FIGHTING IN UKRAINE HAS INCREASED
2. Various of Milley speaking with veterans
ANNOTATION: U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley spoke with The Associated Press after a ceremony marking the 79th anniversary of Normandy's D-Day.
3. Miley laying a wreath at the end of the official ceremony
4. SOUNDBITE (English) General Mark Milley, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff:
"Like the Battle of Normandy or any other major battle, warfare is a give and take, it’s a very dynamic interaction between two competing wills, two competing sides that are fighting in the most violent of human activity. So, there'll be days in which you see a lot of activity. Other days you may see very little activity. There'll be offensive actions and defensive actions. So this will be a back and forth fight for a considerable length of time.”
++WHITE FLASH++
5. SOUNDBITE (English) General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:
"I'll leave official announcements of whether an offensive has started or not started to the Ukrainians, but clearly there's additional activity, as you know, being reported in the media. There's activity throughout Russian-occupied Ukraine and fighting has picked up a bit. But I'll leave it to the Ukrainians to determine that."
++WHITE FLASH++
6. SOUNDBITE (English) General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:
“But again, I put, I always put a cautionary note here. This is a war. And there is give and take on each side. And war is very dynamic. So there's no guarantees of any particular outcome. But I do think they're pretty well prepared.”
++EDIT ENDS ON A SOUNDBITE++

STORYLINE:
U.S. Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Mark Milley said Tuesday that fighting in Ukraine has increased, but he cautioned against reading too much into each day’s operations.

“There’s activity throughout Russian-occupied Ukraine and fighting has picked up a bit,” Milley said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France — the final resting place of almost 9,400 troops who died 79 years ago during the allied D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944.

Milley said it was up to Ukraine to announce whether its counteroffensive campaign has formally begun, but he said Ukrainian troops are ready for this fight.

“It’s our estimation that the Ukrainian military is well prepared for whatever they do — they choose to fight in the offensive fight or in the defense," he said. "They’re well-prepared.”

But he also warned that as time goes on the fighting will vary.

“Like the Battle of Normandy or any other major battle, warfare is a give and take,” Milley said. “There will be days you see a lot of activity and there will be days you may see very little activity. There will be offensive actions and defense actions. So this will be a back-and-forth fight for a considerable length of time.”

The U.S. and allies and partners have been pouring billions of dollars in military weapons into Ukraine and have set up a wide range of combat training so Kyiv's forces can maintain that equipment and prepare for the long-anticipated counteroffensive.

Milley spoke as Ukrainian forces are widely seen to be moving forward with a new surge of fighting in patches along more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) of front line in the east and south.









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