Russia is viewing a call for a 30-day ceasefire with Ukraine as an opportunity for Ukraine to rebuild its defenses, so what it really wants is to get to the end game of the peace talks, retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier Gen. Blaine Holt said on Newsmax Thursday. 

“They just moved Ukraine out of Kursk,” Holt told Newsmax’s “Wake Up America.” “They’ve cut those defenses so badly that there are hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers that could be mounted into an offensive…the way they’re looking at it is, ‘we’re about to win the war and take the entire country if we want to.'”

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Thursday that he had spoken to National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, stating the position that the ceasefire, which Ukraine has agreed to, is a “temporary respite” and that Russia wants a long-term settlement taking its concerns into account.

Read more at Newsmax© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.