Ukraine could take time to “kick out” over 200,000 of Vladimir Putin’s troops from its soil even if its military counteroffensive achieves all its goals, a soon-to-retire US military general has claimed in a new interview. The comments come as Ukraine has stepped up its counteroffensive against Russia in the last few days by retaking a couple of key villages near battle-worn Bakhmut and launched joint intelligence ops in Crimea, the territory Moscow illegally annexed in 2014. “There’s well over 200,000 Russian troops in Russian-occupied Ukraine,” General Mark A Milley, who is set to retire as the chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an “exit interview” to CNN. “This offensive, although significant has operational and tactical objectives that are limited in the sense that they do not – even if they are fully achieved – they do not completely kick out all the Russians, which is the broader strategic objective that president Zelensky has,” he said. Ejecting Russian soldiers from the entirety of Ukraine is going to take a long time and will be “a very significant effort over a considerable amount of time”, Mr Milley said. The general said he doesn’t want to “put a time on it because a lot of things can happen in a war”. “You could see a general collapse, you can see escalation, you could see a lot of different things happen in the future, but I can tell you that it will take a considerable length of time to militarily eject all 200,000 plus Russian troops out of Russian-occupied Ukraine. That’s a very high bar, that’s gonna take a long time to do it,” he said. Earlier this month, Mr Milley said Ukraine only has around 45 days left before poor weather conditions hinder its continuing counteroffensive. It will become “very difficult to manoeuvre” once it starts raining, according to the head of the US military. “That offensive kicked off about 90 days ago,” he said, referring to recent criticism about the counteroffensive. “It has gone slower than the planners anticipated. But that is a difference between what (Prussian general and military theorist Carl von) Clausewitz called war on paper and real war,” he said. “So these are real people in real vehicles that are fighting through real minefields, and there’s real death and destruction, and there’s real friction. “And there’s still a reasonable amount of time – probably about 30 to 45 days’ worth of fighting weather left. So the Ukrainians aren’t done,” he said. “This battle is not done. They haven’t finished the fighting part of what they’re trying to accomplish. So, we’ll see… It’s too early to say how this is going to end. They at least have achieved partial success in what they set out to do, and that’s important. And then the rains will come in. It’ll become very muddy,” he said. “It’ll be very difficult to manoeuvre at that point, and then you’ll get the deep winter, and then, at that point, we’ll see where things go. “But right now it is way too early to say that this offensive has failed or not failed.” In the same interview, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the UK’s Chief of the Defence Staff, said Ukraine is “winning” because Russia failed to bring the country under its control. The Ukrainian counteroffensive is now in its fourth month and its forces have now had a series of territorial successes against Russian forces, including closing in on the country’s eastern areas from multiple directions. Russia had invaded Ukraine in February last year. Ukraine’s pushback, backed by its Western allies who have poured help through modern machinery and funds, has so far been marked by small victories and is awaiting more major breakthroughs. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin launches attack on Lviv as Russian defences breached near Bakhmut villages Ukraine’s Zelensky questions why Russia still has place at UN ahead of New York address Explosions shake Lviv as western Ukraine under air raid alerts for Russian drone strikes Ukrainian troops claim to have liberated Bakhmut village from Russia UNGA Briefing: Biden, Zelenskyy and what else is going on at the United Nations

A Florida man has been executed for the separate 1984 killings of a teenage babysitter and a mother of two, both slain in attacks while children were sleeping

Sporting Kansas City were dominant in their 4-1 victory over St Louis CITY.

Stephen Curry has made a hole-in-one at a celebrity golf tournament, draining his tee shot on the 152-yard par-3 seventh at Edgewood Tahoe

'Love is Blind' Season 5 singles are once again ready to experience heartbreaks and fairytale romance

On Thursday, the MLB playoff picture was shaken up as the Cleveland Guardians and Cincinnati Reds claimed five veteran players off waivers. Here are other teams that made sense for Lucas Giolito and Harrison Bader, among others.

Pete Davidson and his girlfriend Chase Sui Wonders, 27, were involved in a car accident in March

'Was it really sensible to book so many tour dates in the first place?' an insider allegedly asked

TL;DR: A lifetime membership to International Open Academy eLearning is on sale for £48.02, saving

Dennis Graham, 68, has gained recognition for his appearances in his son Drake's music videos

Gunnar Henderson set career highs with two homers, four hits and five RBIs — all in the first four innings — and the Baltimore Orioles routed Luis Severino and the New York Yankees 14-1

Atlanta United makes another power transfer sale move and agree to selling Brazilian winger Luiz Araújo to Flamengo. The reported eight-figure transfer will see Araújo remain with the club through June 24.