Mark Milley on Ukraine War: “The Moral Thing to Do is to Seek Diplomacy.”

Retired General Mark Milley, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States, spoke to the Georgetown community on April 2, 2024 (Flickr).  

Retired General Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff before stepping down in late 2023, spoke at Gaston Hall on April 2, 2024. Milley discussed his duty to uphold the Constitution, U.S. foreign policy objectives, national security threats, and the Russo-Ukrainian War, calling for peace in Ukraine.

As chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Milley was the chief officer in the U.S. military. In this role, he advised the White House, the Department of Defense, and other high-ranking U.S. officials on matters of national and domestic security. He attracted controversy after the 2020 election, when he refused then-President Donald Trump’s request to deploy the Armed Forces against the public. Additionally, in November of 2022, he stated his belief that Ukraine and Russia should negotiate a settlement to end the war, contradicting President Biden’s official stance on the matter. Biden supports continuing to fund the war effort until Ukraine retakes all occupied territory. During his tenure, Milley’s non-partisan position became another flashpoint in partisan politics. He has now joined Georgetown University as a Distinguished Fellow in Residence.

When asked about his 2022 comments and whether he still believes the war should end diplomatically, he affirmed that they still reflect his position but elaborated further that, from a theoretical perspective, the military objectives of the war existed to support the political ends. 

“You have two core vital international security interests at stake for Russia and for Ukraine,” he stated. “For Ukraine, it’s existential. It’s the very survival of the state. For Russia, it’s different, but they defined it as a core national security interest. What the Russians are trying to do is re-establish a buffer and so on.” Re-establishing a buffer state refers to how the Soviet Union built the Warsaw Pact as a buffer between Russia and the West. 

He went on to describe how the political objectives of each nation forced a state of war, as Russia sees a priority to occupy Ukraine and Ukraine sees a priority to continue to exist. The political objectives lead to the military objectives required to win the war, thereby accomplishing the political ends. The problem is they don’t seem achievable for either state. Milley concluded that, “militarily, neither side can achieve those objectives, and that was obvious to me by November of 2022.”

In World War I, until the entry of the United States, neither side had enough of a military advantage to break the stalemate of trench warfare spanning Europe, leading to millions of deaths in exchange for virtually no progress along the fronts. Milley worries that the Ukraine War has developed into a similar stalemate, which would make any further casualties pointless losses of life. That is what prompted his 2022 comments and his continued advocacy for a diplomatic end to fighting. He said that “when you cannot achieve your political objective through military means, then the moral thing to do is to seek an alternative means, which is diplomacy.” 

But neither side seems willing to come to the table. “The political conclusion,” he argues, must be one “where Ukraine remains sovereign and independent with their territory intact.…Now, the problem is getting it.” But Russia won’t abandon their territorial gains, and Ukraine won’t accept anything less. Moreover, with the gridlock in Congress on further aid, “Ukraine very quickly is losing any sort of ability to resist for a long period of time,” making it more likely that Russia, an expert in attritional warfare, will continue fighting. 

According to Milley, Putin, at the very least, will wait for the U.S. 2024 election to conclude. “Putin is rolling the dice, banking on our election year,” he added. “And if he gets the election the way he wants it, the plug will be pulled on Ukraine and it’ll be game over.” Putin’s ideal outcome would be a Trump victory.

Despite the challenges, Milley continues to advocate for a peaceful end to the fighting. A prolonged state of war will cause the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Russians and Ukrainians, and could lead to escalation with NATO over time. As it stands right now, Milley affirmed, “the war is devoid of moral purpose.”