The tensions between Russia and Ukraine are being taken to a "whole new level of danger" that could potentially lead to Russia resorting to a "weapon of desperation," retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier Gen. Blaine Holt told Newsmax on Friday.
"What we're seeing on the battlefield is both sides are taking amazing amounts of losses," Holt, a former U.S. deputy military representative to NATO, said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America," adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin support is "starting to get weaker and weaker" around him.
There is not a demilitarized zone at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility, which Russia captured in March, and that is a concern, said Holt.
"I'm worried about a weapon of desperation being used in this formula here," Holt added. "We still don't have a demilitarized zone on that nuclear power plant and that could, in effect, be a very dirty bomb."
The United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency has called for the facility to be a protected zone, reports EconoTimes.
Meanwhile, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko said this week that he's resisting pressure from Russia to enter the war against Ukraine and said that he'll only defend his country against a direct attack from Ukraine or NATO.
"This is one of Putin's closest allies here, potentially wavering on him as well," Holt said. "You know the entire time, Lukashenko has been dancing on a pin because you know he would have shown solidarity with Putin and helped invade Ukraine. His own people won't let him do it. His own military has several times told Lukashenko, that's not going to go."
There are 70,000 troops on the Belarusian northern border, Holt added, but Lukashenko "is not in a position to order them to attack. He may come out of power himself."
Meanwhile, Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei, 64, "died suddenly" last week, according to government reports that did not indicate where or how he died, reports The Washington Post, and Holt on Friday said he was "murdered."
"[He was] a pro-Western deputy foreign minister, and all is not well in Belarus," said Holt. "That's getting a lot of eyeballs."
Holt's Friday comments come after President Joe Biden, speaking beside French President Emmanuel Macron, said earlier in the morning that he's prepared to speak with Putin, but also commented that the only way to end the war in Ukraine is for Putin to pull troops out, reports Reuters.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, though, said Putin is open to negotiations, but that Russia won't pull out of Ukraine.
Biden also said that he and Macron have agreed to work together to hold Putin accountable for the "barbaric" war and that it is beyond comprehension that Ukraine could be defeated.
Meanwhile, new Twitter owner Elon Musk has been speaking out about a peace proposal that would include Ukraine ceding territories to Russia, leading Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to rebuke him, reports The New York Times.
Zelenskyy, in a video link to The New York Times' DealBook Summit Wednesday, invited Musk to visit Ukraine to see for himself the damages Russia has caused, as the visit would help him understand what is going on before he makes proclamations about the situation.
But Holt said Friday that even though Musk is a leader in the United States and worldwide, "he's a tech leader," not a statesman in "any official capacity."
However, the retired general said he does want to "see everybody steer back toward this, that it's OK to have a dialogue."
"Even if we're going to have a disagreement, we don't have to have a talk that leads to a peace treaty," said Holt. "If we don't have any talks, then all we're left with is more death on the battlefield and higher stakes, and an expansion of the war."
In addition, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday, during a press conference, attacked Washington and NATO and claimed that the United States is posing an "existential threat" to Russia through supporting Ukraine, and Holt asked what that kind of language would have meant to the United States a year ago.
Now, he said, "it just goes right past us."
"We've got to get statesmen and diplomats back into the room discussing this, whether Zelenskyy wants that or not," said Holt. "We have to talk about this war. It involves other countries besides Ukraine."
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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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