Admiral Mike Mullen, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Sunday said Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is “cornered” in his war with Ukraine, and that the conflict will be a long one.
In an interview on ABC News’ “This Week,” Mullen warned nuclear weapons “are a part of Putin’s arsenal.”
“He’s pretty well cornered and boxed in so we would certainly have to consider it’s a possible action he can take” in the Russian army’s invasion of Ukraine that began Feb. 24.
“I think we’re in for a long one,” Mullen added. “It’s going to be bloody. It’s going to be visible. It’s going to be what war is. I think we’ll see Putin continue to devastate the infrastructure, with respect to how he approaches it, the long-range weapons. I think what we’ve done to supply [Ukraine] has been extraordinary, quite frankly. And we need to continue to do that.”
According to Mullen, it was encouraging that at least Putin was not publicly opposed to Finland and Sweden joining NATO.
“What strikes me about Finland and Sweden is how deeply neutral they had been for decades and decades and how concerned they obviously are with this threat that has now been generated by Putin,” he said.
He said he’s also heartened by “the unity of NATO.”
“Almost every European I've spoken to considers the threat in Europe now existential to them and I think that speaks to the move on the part of both Sweden and Finland,” he said. “And I’m encouraged by that. I don’t think that it will cause a nuclear action on the part of Putin, at this particular point.”
Mullen hailed current Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley speaking with his Russian counterpart.
“It’s a big step in terms of being able to talk about how we continue, if you will, in this fight,” he said. “And hopefully, it’s the start of a path to get to some diplomatic outcome here.”
“All wars have to end,” he continued. “We need to be thinking more and more about what does that mean, what’s on both sides… so that this is contained as opposed to exploding into a massive Holocaust for, not just the region, but for the world.”
Mullen also emphasized the importance of President Joe Biden’s trip to South Korea and Japan.
“Japan, South Korea, and the U.S. working together is really critical — in addition to Australia,” he said.
“He’s going to meet this week with the leaders of the [Quadrilateral Security Dialogue], which include India. And so I think the President’s visit, in that regard, is really critical, to try to contain what continues to be a real challenge in North Korea with his development in nuclear weapons,” he said.
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Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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