Russia's latest attacks on Ukraine's key cities, including the capital Kyiv and Kharkiv, were to be expected as both sides get closer to sitting down and coming to a settlement for peace, retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt, a former U.S. deputy military representative to NATO and now a Newsmax contributor, commented Thursday.
"As they're getting closer on both sides to sitting down and talking about what this settlement is. Militarily this can make it an even more dangerous proposition because both militaries will look to secure as many gains as they possibly can," Holt said on Newsmax's "National Report."
"What you're seeing right now is a horrific display of Russian power with 120 missiles, a combination of cruise missiles from sea and land, and then these suicide drones wreaking havoc on what's left of the Ukrainian grid. Very, very dangerous."
Ideally, a cease-fire would be reached without preconditions and talks would start, but there will be an impasse between Russia, which says the territories it has seized is theirs, and Ukraine, which will call for Russia to leave the country intact.
The United States' promise of resources for Ukraine will "backstop" President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's leverage in any negotiations, but the United States does not "have any accountability for that money and how it's going to be spent," said Holt.
The Ukrainian military, though, will need advanced training on various weapons systems, such as the Patriot defense missiles the United States has pledged, as the Patriot battery is a fixed system that takes 90 people to operate, said Holt.
"It won't come overnight for them to have the skill sets to employ that appropriately, so that's going to be a longer-term thing," he said.
"What I'm concerned about is some of the very high-tech things that they're talking about, with joint directed attack munitions or GPS, smart weapons or small diameter bombs. They'll learn how to use those, but the concern I have is technology transfer. If the Russians and then eventually the Chinese get their hands on that technology as a facet of this war, a lot of training goes into play."
Holt also discussed Zelenskyy's 10-point peace plan, which includes some items on which there could be some agreement, including food security and prison release, but he said other factors serve as "poison pills" for Russia.
But one of Zelenskyy's plans is for a tribunal to investigate war crimes against Russia, and the Russians will never sign up for that, said Holt.
"Both sides don't have the ability to go on for years at this level of warfare, so they're looking at the pressure points on both," said Holt.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's energy grid is "absolutely horrible" and Kyiv was "nearly completely knocked offline with the latest bombardment, said Holt.
"All this talk about the Russians running out of missiles just doesn't seem to be true," said Holt. "They're just going to keep popping away at it and using the winter to their advantage."
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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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