(CNN)The top US military officer told lawmakers Tuesday that the world is
becoming more unstable and the "potential for significant international
conflict is increasing, not decreasing."

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd
Austin appeared before the House Armed Services Committee in their first
testimony before Congress since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The two
Pentagon leaders said the threats from both Russia and China remain
significant, while they defended the US approach to the war and the flow
of arms the US is sending to Ukraine.

Milley said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is "the greatest threat to
peace and security of Europe and perhaps the world" in his 42 years
serving in the US military, but added it was "heartening" to see the world
rally around Ukraine.

"The Russian invasion of Ukraine is threatening to undermine not only
European peace and stability but global peace and stability that my
parents and a generation of Americans fought so hard to defend," Milley
said.

"We are now facing two global powers: China and Russia, each with
significant military capabilities both who intend to fundamentally change
the rules based current global order," Milley added. "We are entering a
world that is becoming more unstable and the potential for significant
international conflict is increasing, not decreasing."

Several Republicans asked Milley and Austin whether the US failed in its
efforts to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from attacking Ukraine.
Milley responded that he did not think Putin could have been deterred
unless US forces had deployed from Ukraine -- a scenario he would have
advised against had it been proposed.

"Candidly, short of the commitment of US military forces into Ukraine
proper, I'm not sure he was deterrable. This has been a long-term
objective of his that goes back years," Milley said. "I think the idea of
deterring Putin from invading Ukraine, deterring him by the United States,
would have required the commitment of US military forces, and I think that
would have risked armed conflict with Russia, which I certainly wouldn't
have advised."

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/04/05/politics/mark-milley-ukraine-reaction-international-conflict/index.html