Ukraine will likely keep attacking Russian logistics following its sea drone attack on a Russian tanker this past week, but will have to have more weapons to do something more meaningful in attacking fuel distribution centers, retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier Gen. Blaine Holt told Newsmax Sunday.
"Hitting a tanker is a big deal," Holt said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America," on which he appeared with retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer. "It's going to capture all of our attention. But that's just a tanker and that's one bit of fuel. You've got to go further up the chain. You've got to go to the distribution centers of the fuel."
Russia said Saturday it will punish Ukraine for its use of a sea drone to attack a Russian fuel tanker near a bridge linking Russia to Crimea, calling the attack a "terrorist act" on a civilian tanker that risks "a large-scale environmental disaster."
"What we want to see is what is the strategy going to be and is it paired up with the appropriate logistics to make something meaningful happen?" said Holt.
He also said he wonders if Ukraine will be using air defense to protect its grain and how it will reopen its shipping lanes.
Meanwhile, Polish officials are confirming reports of Belarusian helicopters flying into Polish airspace, and there were reports last week of Wagner Group forces in Belarus near the Polish border.
But Shaffer said that while he considers Belarus is "becoming a belligerent," he thinks its focus will be on Ukraine, not NATO-allied Poland.
"I believe this, uh, this issue with Wagner is a distraction," said Shaffer. "I don't see them opening up a front with Poland. They can't afford that right now."
But even though the war is "not going well for Ukraine," the news from Poland is "distracting from the main effort on the battlefield," said Shaffer, adding that he does not see the war expanding into Poland at this time.
Holt also addressed the military coup in Niger, where a deadline arrived Sunday for Niger's military junta to reinstate ousted President Mohamed Bazoum or face a military intervention from a West African regional bloc, ECOWAS.
He agreed that it's "very likely" a war will break out, and that it could include "a lot of assets coming to bear from just the Russian side."
"ECOWAS does not look like they're going to be able to put a force together right away, but it looks like something is going to happen," Holt said. "The upshot of all of this is more war across this area of Africa, more instability from Sudan, and then any idea that the Europeans had that a gas line was going to come out of Nigeria and make it to Europe, that's all but gone at this point. Who's at the center of it? Russia and China are not far behind."
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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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