The war between Ukraine and Russia is closer to coming to an end than it has been at any point since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kurt Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, told Newsmax on Wednesday.

Part of that is because Ukraine agreed to accept a 30-day ceasefire, leaving Russia to decide if it will accept the move toward peace, and Volker told Newsmax’s “Wake Up America” that the Russians have reasons of their own why they need to stop the war.

“Their economy is in a shambles,” he said. “They have very high inflation, very high interest rates, a labor shortage. They can’t supply their military forces adequately. They don’t have the manpower to keep replacing all those people they’re losing on the battlefield. So, I think Russia needs a ceasefire as well. They don’t want to admit it. But they do.”

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