Russia's most effective weapon in its brutal war against Ukraine will be "winter itself," retired Air Force Brigadier Gen. Blaine Holt said Monday.
In an interview on Newsmax's "Wake Up America," Holt warned of a looming refugee crisis.
"It's' gonna be brutal," Holt said of the 9-month-old war. "The temperatures only go down from here. The ground gets more hard packed, and you've got two determined armies that are going to be going at each other. But the winter itself is a Russian weapon, and we are going to see more targeted attacks."
According to Holt, Ukrainian engineers should be praised for being able to restore so much infrastructure that's been targeted by Russian attacks.
"But these things are going to be fired on again," he said. "And we are looking at the eve of a very, very big humanitarian crisis in terms of refugees. That's the danger to the wider part of Europe that we see right now."
Holt said diplomacy will have to be employed to end the war.
"The sustainability of the status quo — it's not there," he said.
"We had a deterrable war this time last year," he asserted. "Then we have the war. The logistics is stop and go … It's a horrific Christian war, and now we're at a place where Europe is buckling because of their energy supplies and their food supplies and munitions are just being funneled into this conflict.
"It's not sustainable and … diplomacy has to rule … at the end of the day," he declared.
Holt also called for "transparency" in the United States' funding of the war effort as Congress considers a bill requiring oversight for all aid sent to Ukraine starting in January.
"Americans are on both sides of the aisle," he said. "I don't care if you're Democrat or Republican. It's not that issue. This is an American issue. We deserve transparency for how we expand our resources. We're all in favor of supporting Ukraine. Most of us anyway. But what is it? An open ended check? Is there corruption involved?"
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Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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