Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt told Newsmax on Friday that the upcoming negotiations between the Trump administration and Russia over the war with Ukraine amounts to a "competition of leverage."
Holt told "American Agenda" that special envoy Steve Witkoff is facing a tough time in Moscow.
"What we're looking at is Ambassador Witkoff is gonna come in and say, hey, look, your economy is a mess. Why don't we get you back into the global economy and start from there as our levers. But what Russia's going to tell him back is, fine. Here's the terms. If you wanna short-circuit the war, that's great. Here's our demands. But militarily, we're winning this war, and we're gonna continue to win this war and see it out, so that we'll impose these terms," he said.
Also joining the discussion ahead of the negotiations was national security analyst Rebecca Grant, who said: "Well, this is Russia's brutal war. They've done this before. Let's not forget [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is the bad guy here and, frankly, Putin is also the loser. He's just made NATO stronger. He's lost in the Black Sea. But I think General Holt was right to say that Steve Witkoff is sort of the quarterback bringing in the economic options."
Grant added that there is more going on in the background and the choices will be difficult.
"That's the strategy now to see what will entice Putin to an agreement, but there's a couple other balls in the air," she said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Friday said President Donald Trump is frustrated and wants the war to end.
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