America's highest-ranking and most senior military officer this week told lawmakers that the world is becoming more unstable and the "potential for significant international conflict between great powers is increasing, not decreasing." His comments came Tuesday during testimony before the House Armed Services Committee.

The general called Russia's invasion of Ukraine "the greatest threat to peace and security of Europe, and perhaps the world, in my 42 years of service in uniform."

General Milley was asked about the need to deploy additional forces to Europe’s eastern flank, where NATO allies are worried that they may be Russia’s next target. He responded that his advice would be to create permanent bases, but instead of stationing troops abroad for the normal 2-3 year assignment (family often in tow), the same effect can be achieved by rotating forces through the region.

“I believe that a lot of our European allies, especially those such as the Baltics or Poland and Romania, and elsewhere — they’re very, very willing to establish permanent bases. They’ll build them, they’ll pay for them.”

Milley said that while there are no decisions yet, "there’s a possibility, if not a probability” of increasing U.S. troops strength in Europe, and that need could be filled by rotational forces.

Milley also stated that Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine, and its ongoing demands that the U.S. and NATO reduce troops and arms in European countries along Russia’s borders, signal a lengthy conflict in the region extending beyond Ukraine.

“I do think this is a very protracted conflict and I think it’s at least measured in years. I think that NATO, the United States, Ukraine and all of the allies and partners that are supporting Ukraine, are going to be involved in this for quite some time.”

NATO: Finland and Sweden Welcome To Join

As a result of the invasion of Ukraine, public support and political momentum for Finland joining NATO has reached an all-time high, raising the very real possibility that the alliance's borders with Russia could extend by more than 830 miles within a matter of months.

On Wednesday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters that the military alliance would welcome Finland and Sweden into its ranks with open arms if they decided to apply.

On Friday, Finland's government websites came under cyberattack as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was addressing Finnish parliament.

During his address, Zelensky stated that "the war of Russia against Ukraine is decisive not only for the future of our country and our nation, but all those who have a common border with Russia. Just like you 83 years ago, Ukraine has the bravery to defend itself."

Readers are again reminded that late February, Russia threatened military action against Sweden and neighboring Finland should either join NATO. The threat was followed up two days later by sending four Russian jets into Swedish airspace. Swedish media reports two of these jets were armed with nuclear weapons. The airspace violation is reported to have lasted only about one minute.

This week, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov warned that if Finland and Sweden joined NATO then Russia would have to "rebalance the situation" with its own measures.

Ukraine's FM Is Not Screwing Around

Also this week, an extraordinary press conference was held just outside NATO headquarters early Thursday morning prior to a ministerial meeting. Behind one of the microphones was Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs for Ukraine. When asked about the different types of responses he is receiving to requests for additional arms shipment to Ukraine, Kuleba responded:

"Yes, there are two ways of approaching the issue of weapons supplies. The first one is when you do not want to supply anything, you come up with the argument: we don't have to do it because it will pull us or NATO as a whole into the war. The second approach is completely different. This line of thinking is completely different. We will provide Ukraine with all necessary weapons so that we, neither we nor NATO as a whole, will have to fight in this war, because Ukrainians will do it for us. I think the deal that Ukraine is offering is fair. You give us weapons, we sacrifice our lives and the war is contained in Ukraine. This is it."

Invasion Progress

Below is a conflict map as of April 8 based on open source reporting. Compare this map with that of last week.

AlertsUSA warns that the conflict in Eastern Europe has potential to get much worse, and spillover into neighboring NATO nations is a possibility. Caution is urged if traveling to Europe in the coming months.

AlertsUSA continues to monitor the domestic and international threat environment around the clock and will immediately notify service subscribers, via SMS messages to their mobile devices, of new alerts, warnings and advisories or any developments which signal a change the overall threat picture for American citizens as events warrant.