U.S. general plays down odds of near-term military victory in Ukraine

FILE PHOTO: U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark A. Milley attends a meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group during a NATO defence ministers meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium October 12, 2022. REUTERS/Yves Herman

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top U.S. general on Wednesday played down the odds of any near-term, outright military victory by Ukraine, cautioning that Russia still had significant combat power inside of Ukraine despite suffering military setbacks in its invasion.

"The probability of a Ukrainian military victory -- defined as kicking the Russians out of all of Ukraine to include what they claim as Crimea -- the probability of that happening anytime soon is not high, militarily," Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a news conference.