“The only way Russia wins is if the West quits”

US General Ben Hodges has led forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. He commanded US forces in Europe before retiring in 2018. Hellenica recently spoke with him about the logic of deep strikes against Russia

US General Ben Hodges

On August 6, Ukraine launched a counter-invasion of Russia’s region of Kursk. Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi has since explained that this move was designed to distract Russian forces in east Ukraine and halt their march towards Pokrovsk; to secure the Ukrainian regions of Kursk and Sumy from new Russian ground invasions that were underway and about to begin, respectively; and to change a defeatist attitude among Ukraine’s allies about whether Ukrainian armed forces were still capable of winning the war.

“It certainly undermines the excessive fear that some have that there are all these redlines out there, that if we or the Ukrainians cross these redlines the Russians will use a nuclear weapon,” retired US general Ben Hodges told Hellenica. “And here we are now two and a half years since the full-scale invasion and ten years since the  original invasion by Russia, and we have crossed multiple red lines. Ukraine is inside Russia and Russia is not able to do anything about it. There is [also] no benefit for Russia to use a nuclear weapon. So I’m hoping that this will begin to erode some of the excessive fear in the White House and some other capitals.”