Monitoring Desk
WARSAW: General Mark Milley, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff traveled to a site near the Poland-Ukraine on Tuesday and held discussions with his Ukrainian counterpart Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi face to face for the first time.
The meeting highlights the growing relations between the two militaries. According to the Associated Press, General Mark Milley, met for a couple of hours with Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, at an undisclosed location in the southeastern part of Poland.
The two sides had discussed frequently Ukraine’s military needs and the state of the conflict over the past year but had never held a meeting.
US-Ukraine
The meeting takes place as the world rises up the military help to Kyiv, including expanded training of Ukrainian troops by the United States and the provision of a Patriot missile system, air defense, tanks, and other arms by Washington and European countries.
The US Army Col. Dave Butler, a spokesman for Gen. Milley, told two media persons traveling with the US top military officer that the two chiefs felt it was significant to meet in person.
Butler said that they have talked in detail about the defense that Kyiv is trying to do against Moscow’s “aggression”. Butler added there had been some hope that Zaluzhnyi will travel to Brussels for a meeting of NATO and other defense heads this week.
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Butler said that only a small group — Gen Milley and six of his senior staff members — traveled by car to the meeting.
Over 600 Ukrainian forces began the expanded training program at the camp just a day before Milley’s meeting.
Mark Milley and other chiefs of defense will hold meetings in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday. The meetings are likely to focus on Ukraine’s current and future army needs.
