NEW YORK, May 2. /TASS/. The conflict in Ukraine is unlikely to be over this year since Kiev will not be able to reach its political goals over this time, US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley said.

"I do think, though, that the probability of either side achieving their political objectives—war is about politics through the sole use of military means—I think that’s going to be very difficult, very challenging. And frankly, I don’t think the probability of that is likely in this year," he said in an interview with the Foreign Affairs magazine.

On February 24, Putin launched a special military operation in Ukraine in response to a request for help from the heads of the Donbass republics. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, but aimed to demilitarize and denazify the country. After that, the West imposed sweeping sanctions against Russia and beefed up arms supplies to the Kiev regime worth tens of billions of dollars. The Russian side has repeatedly warned that arms supplies only protract the conflict.