Ukraine’s long-awaited counteroffensive against Russia will eventually succeed, a former commander of the U.S. Army in Europe told NPR. morning edition on Friday.

Retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges spoke to NPR correspondent Leila Fadel a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the offensive was temporarily on hold as the country awaited the arrival of more Western weapons and other military supplies.

“We can move forward with what we have and I think we can succeed. But we will lose a lot of people,” Zelensky. told public broadcasters through a translator. “I think this is unacceptable. We need to wait.”

Hodges spoke about the conditions needed to continue the counterattack, his expectations for the offensive, and the future of foreign aid to Ukraine.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

On whether this delay harms the Ukrainian military effort

I wouldn’t call it a delay. I think the idea that it was a spring offensive was something we came up with… I don’t believe they ever gave a specific date or time of the year. There are three conditions they must meet before they tell President Zelensky they are ready to go. Number one: Are their own forces strong enough, ready enough, trained enough to succeed? Second condition: are Russian forces degraded and defeated enough for the Ukrainian attack to be successful? And then the third condition, I think, is tied to the earth. Is it dry enough to keep hundreds of armored vehicles moving? Those are three conditions that I think they will want to meet before they tell the president they are ready to go.

About their expectations of the offensive

Well, firstly, I was impressed by the Ukrainian General Staff, how qualified and disciplined they are. They do an excellent job of protecting information. We know more about the Russians than about the Ukrainian troops, as we should. I don’t have to know, like an old pensioner, what their plans are. I do expect, however, that they will be quite successful. They trained hard. The West has provided a lot of very good equipment, but the Ukrainians have also worked hard to create several armored brigades that will be used to break through this long line of Russian defenses.

On the risk that Ukrainians will lose US aid

Well, this is an important point, and I think there will be some concerns about this. And I was glad to hear that the President said that American support is not about whether this offensive will lead to some great success … It’s about helping stop Russia from its aggression, holding them accountable for the terrible war. crimes, violations of sovereignty, violations of international law. So if we’re serious about those reasons for doing this – and also, of course, the Chinese are watching to see if we’re really serious about this – then I don’t think our support is directly related to whether the attack is a resounding success.

Olivia Hampton digitally edited this story.