Following Russia’s temporary retreat to resupply and strategize its potential attack to secure the Donbas region, there have been two differing predictions from high-ranking military officials regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine in the past few days. These two differing views come from Retired United States Army Maj. Gen. Michael “Mike” Repass and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley.

During a CNN interview, Repass shared his insights on the ongoing war in Ukraine. Repass, the former commander of the US Special Operations Command in Europe, has been an adviser for the Ukrainian military for the last six years under a US government agreement. He thinks that the Russians had “culminated” 5 days ago and that they would be weaker in the coming attacks.

“The Russians culminated about 5 days ago… I believe that the Ukrainians sensed that and started conducting local counterattacks, particularly to the north and west of Kyiv. They also started counterattacks in the east recently.”

He explained that “culmination” in military jargon refers to when a force no longer has enough combat power to maintain progress in offensive operations. Despite the Ukrainian counter-offensives, Repass is also concerned about whether the scale of this operation will be enough to mount a significant pushback against Russia.