Ukraine firing Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov could be about corruption investigations, a lack of counteroffensive progress, or the bringing in of potential dealmaker and peacemaker at defense, according to retired Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt on Newsmax.
"What we're seeing is not just a rebuking of what could be potentially a corruption case – we have to see what that looks like – but more importantly, this is really probably an assessment of what the counteroffensive is," Holt told Monday's "Wake Up America," noting Russia still occupies 20% of Ukraine. "Reznikov has been over all of that.
"There's been a lot of accusations of corruption all along the way, but that stretches to every element of the government."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday he would ask parliament this week to replace Reznikov with Rustem Umerov, head of the country's main privatization fund.
Reznikov's future will determine the real reason of his removal, Holt told co-hosts Rob Finnerty and Christina Thompson.
"What we have to see is does he get then 'promoted' to ambassador to the U.K.," Holt said of Reznikov.
"That would probably mean he's not in that much trouble."
Notably, his replacement was at the front lines of the chief Ukrainian negotiator of the grain deal with Russia, Holt continued.
"What I'm really looking at is his replacement, which is Rustem Umerov, and the possibilities that could now be to off-ramp this war with a selection of the guy who used to negotiate with the Russians themselves on the grain deal."
The defense minister turnover comes as Russia's Vladimir Putin meets with Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is a NATO ally and close to Umerov, according to Holt, who says "there might be the pieces" of hope for an off-ramp of the war.
"Or at least negotiations coming soon," Holt concluded. "And Umerov, as it turns out, is very close to Erdogan, and maybe, there's going to be something developing there."
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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