Earlier this week, Jake Sullivan provided a military situation report six weeks after Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine began.

The next phase of the conflict will very well be protracted, said the National Security Advisor in the White House.

One should have no illusions.

In view of the military difficulties, Russia will adjust its tactics.

This will likely continue to include wanton attacks on civilians across the country.

Territorially, however, the Russian armed forces would concentrate on the east and south of the country.

Majid Sattar

Political correspondent for North America based in Washington.

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Sullivan's analysis, echoed in a congressional hearing on Tuesday, said the strengthening of NATO's eastern flank, which the western alliance had begun before the Russian attack, is to be continued.

Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pleaded before the House Armed Services Committee to establish more bases in the Eastern European NATO countries to protect them from the Russian threat.

Specifically, Milley suggested that American forces establish permanent bases that would then be manned on a rotating basis.

This gives you the advantages of a permanent military presence, namely the deterrent effect, without having to accept certain disadvantages, such as the need for families to move, their accommodation and schooling.

Poland and the Baltic States have a great interest in an American military presence.

These are “very, very willing” to set up bases.

They would build them and pay for them, Milley said.

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that he would work with the allies to discuss the requirements for further strengthening of the eastern flank.

That will happen at the regular NATO summit in Madrid in June.

He added that the military alliance is in the process of examining how the "security architecture in the region will change for the foreseeable future."

If NATO decides to change its presence in Eastern Europe, then the American military "certainly would be a part of it," he said.

The background is that beyond practical considerations there are also political ones.

Russia opposes permanent NATO bases in former Warsaw Pact states, citing the 1997 NATO-Russia Founding Act.

However, NATO points out that it is Russia that is violating the agreement - and has been since the annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014. The alliance believes that the strengthening of the eastern flank is in line with the founding act, since the self-commitments it contains are environment are connected.

Milley said Moscow's attack on Ukraine, but also continued calls for the United States and NATO to reduce their presence on Russia's borders, argued for a long conflict going beyond Ukraine.

He doesn't want to talk about decades, but certainly "years at least," said the general.

He called the Russian war of aggression the "greatest threat to peace and security in Europe, perhaps even the world" that he had faced in his 42 years of service in the military.

Milley indirectly acknowledged that the war is tying up America's resources in Europe and thus posing a challenge to China strategy: "We are now dealing with two world powers, China and Russia,

both of whom have significant military capabilities and intend to fundamentally change the rules of the current world order.” The world is becoming increasingly unstable.

"The potential for significant international conflicts between great powers is increasing, not decreasing."

Washington, meanwhile, made it clear that it is not losing sight of Beijing, which the Biden administration sees as the real strategic challenge in the 21st century.

The AUKUS alliance of the United States, Great Britain and Australia, which is directed against China, announced on Tuesday that it would cooperate in the development of hypersonic missiles.

The three countries will both accelerate hypersonic development and work on countering hypersonic weapons, the White House announced.

In general, the aim would be to deepen cooperation in the field of defense innovations.

Hypersonic refers to speeds above five times the speed of sound.

Weapons of this type, which, like ballistic missiles, can potentially carry nuclear weapons, are difficult to intercept with current defense systems.

CNN reported on Tuesday that Washington tested a hypersonic missile in March.

However, this was not made public because of the conflict with Russia.

Russia deployed the Kinzhal hypersonic missile in Ukraine in March.

Austin had said after the Russian operation that Kinzhal was not a decisive turning point in the course of the war.