Ukraine's military appears to be taking offensive steps to reclaim territory taken by Russia, and that is an important development and reflects the intelligence the country's military is receiving about the condition of their enemy's troops, retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier Gen. Blaine Holt said on Newsmax Saturday.
Russia's troops, Holt told Newsmax's "Saturday Report" are "spread out" and that "logistically, they're failing on every front," and that means there is no better time to take the weapons that the United States has provided to try to reclaim some of their country.
"Their morale is absolutely plummeting," Holt said. "They're being asked to kill civilians, and so they're not with this. So what better time than now? To take the weapons that we've given them and to start to reclaim some of this and demoralize them further because every hour that Ukraine can hang on here is another hour that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin gets backed into a corner."
Meanwhile, Holt said he wishes the issues with providing the Ukraine military with former Soviet MiG jets through Poland hadn't gotten so politicized and played out on the public stage rather than behind closed doors with NATO, but he said the question could be revisited.
"With hypersonic missiles now flying in the country very close to NATO countries, we would do well to acknowledge that this is not a static war or situation and dynamic situations require fresh decisions," said Holt. "I would urge us all to reconsider what the Ukrainian requests are, but beyond that, there are many other types of weapons that can be brought to bear to help Ukrainians push the Russians out of their country."
It's also troubling that the military strikes are coming so close to the border of Poland, a NATO country, said Holt.
"This is where all the humanitarian and military aid is coming from," he said. "These logistics lines are definitely in the crosshairs of the Russians right now, because they don't see they have much of a choice … one errant missile into Poland and we have an entirely different crisis on our hands. We would do well to keep supporting Ukraine's effort to repel them."
Holt also said he believes that Putin will find himself being more isolated from his inner circle the longer Ukraine holds on, but that could result in desperation that could turn dangerous.
But still, he said he's also optimistic because Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu "hasn't been seen in a long time."
He said he also believes there is a way for Russia to reverse what has happened with Ukraine and to return to its place in the community of nations, but that will mean holding Putin accountable and "hauling him out to the international criminal courts at the Hague."
"It sounds very difficult to do, but the more he loses support in that inner circle, the more it could happen," he said. "Russia could get right back on track if they all grabbed a shovel and help us put Ukraine back together again."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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