It seems as though Russia is "turning away now from President Trump's leadership at the peace table and looking at victory and settling it on the battlefield," retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt told Newsmax.
"What we see out of Russia is not just a vindictive nature in this war but also making more demands," Holt told Newsmax's "Newsline" Monday.
"I think Russia is turning away now from President Trump's leadership at the peace table and looking at victory and settling it on the battlefield.
"That's what Russian Foreign Minister [Sergey] Lavrov had said they were looking at doing. And if that's the case, I'm guessing Russia is then going to say, Well, we'll take the economic hit now and we'll try to sort it later, but we're going to start demanding the terms."
He said Putin should not be the target.
"And I know that President Trump also put out on Truth Social that he was warning [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy to make better decisions there. There's nothing militarily to be gained by taking out Putin. In fact, you'll get a worse guy, and you'll get a far worse outcome to this war right now. So, both sides really do need to get to a table and understand that we have a lot more to lose than Ukraine," he added.
After Russia on Sunday hit Ukraine with the largest drone-and-missile attack of the war so far, Trump said on Truth Social Putin had "gone absolutely CRAZY!
"He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I'm not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever."
Putin, Trump said, wants to take over all of Ukraine. But, he warned, "it will lead to the downfall of Russia!"
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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