Retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt said Tuesday on Newsmax that "logistical" problems are delaying the anticipated Ukrainian spring counteroffensive.
"They're supposed to be gearing up to get going here very soon, but their complaint remains the same," Holt said on "Wake Up America." "The logistic support does not look like it matches the capability and the plans that they want to bring to bear."
Holt said that while Ukraine is waiting to have the resources it needs mount a counterattack on Russian forces, the Kremlin is increasing the intensity of attacks on the capital city of Kyiv and blaming Ukraine for a drone attack on a Moscow apartment building.
Holt said the attack, which the Russians said involved targeting five separate areas inside of its border with air defenses able to block most of the units, will be used to justify increasing the lethality of weapons Russia will use in Ukraine.
Reuters reported the strikes involving more than 25 drones took place in some of Moscow's wealthier areas, including where Putin and other elites have homes.
The report said Putin was in the Kremlin and briefed on the attacks.
"I'm worried this is all to set the stage for a really massive Russia attack," Holt said. "We keep talking about the Ukrainian big offensive. The enemy always gets a vote, and what I'm very worried about is these [attacks near Moscow] will all be used as justifications for some of the higher end and more lethal weaponry that Russia has aimed [at Ukraine] in this war."
Holt said that either the drone attacks are likely part of a Russian anti-war effort, or a "false flag" used by the Kremlin to gain domestic support for the war, and to reinforce the need for prosecuting the war with its ally China.
"If it's not a terrorist attack unto itself by an anti-war group or something like that, the 'false flag' option would be taken because the Kremlin is looking at the Russian population, saying, 'Support for this war is waning,'" Holt said. "But if they caught some attacks from the Ukrainians themselves, [Russians] might understand that they need to be at this thing.
"I think that that's a big deal for the Kremlin. The other part is making the case to the Chinese that, 'Look, Moscow is under attack. You can't tell us to finish up this war. We've got to get at Ukraine.'"
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