Russia does not care about the traditional rules of warfare, and the most "ominous" threat for Kyiv at this point is the potential rehearsal for the use of chemical weapons to take control of the Ukrainian capital, retired Brigadier Gen. Blaine Holt said on Newsmax Sunday.
Holt stressed on Newsmax's "Wake Up America" that rumors of testing have not been confirmed by Ukrainian sources, but said the potential of chemical weapons testing, combined with the reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to bring in mercenaries from Syria to fight in Ukraine and other actions he is taking, shows Russia's leader is "as close on the spectrum of total war as you could imagine."
"In the desperation continuum, If they can't get Kyiv one way they may end up just saying 'all right, well, let's go in with chemicals, because that's how we avoid door-to-door warfare, and it doesn't look like we want to face the Ukrainian army, and we don't care about the rules of warfare,'" Holt told show host Carl Higbee.
He added that he spoke with a source in Ukraine Sunday morning, and "what we're trying to verify is whether or not they're doing a rehearsal for chems out in the eastern part of the country. It doesn't look like that was the case."
Holt said there was a rumor overnight that chlorine gas had been discharged in the separatist region of Donetsk, but "the Ukrainians are saying that hasn't happened yet. But the first sign of a rehearsal of that type is ominous for Kyiv."
Meanwhile, the Syrian mercenaries that could enter Ukraine are a group "that absolutely has no rules, and there are no cultural links for them in this area whatsoever."
"What's a strategic concern to me is that there has to be some sort of agreement between [Syrian leader Bashar] al-Assad and Putin to get now what we see a multinational force from out of theater coming into Ukraine. What was the deal that was cut, and is what we see happening in the Middle East last night related to all of this?"
The retired general also discussed Sunday's Russian missile attack on a Ukrainian military facility about 15 miles from the border of Poland, a NATO member. The attack killed 35 and wounded 134, according to a Ukrainian official.
"This is a new page in the book where they are coming west," Holt told Higbee. "The Russians see the Ukrainian military success going back on the logistics that they're receiving out of the west. Logistics is very important and something that I thought the Russians would do in the very early part of this game would cut off their access to supply lines. But now they're getting onto it."
Holt on Sunday also discussed the reported death of an American journalist, saying the "entire Ukraine theater" is changing rapidly and with the Russians being in a "desperate place," they do not care about civilians, even someone wearing a flak vest that says "Press" on it.
Ukraine's capital police said Sunday that filmmaker Brent Renaud was killed by Russian forces and another journalist was injured in the city of Irpin, located near Kyiv, reports Haaretz.
Journalists in Ukraine showed Renaud's picture and a New York Times press badge, holding Russia accountable for his death, but the Times said in a statement on Twitter that Renaud had not been on assignment for the publication.
The Russians, said Holt, are at a point where they "really don't care about civilians, where they come from, or their nationalities," as proven by their attacks on Ukraine's cities.
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.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.