The United States' defense of Ukraine won't "pick back up," retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer told Newsmax Saturday.
"I hate to be the wet blanket here, but I disagree ... It's not going to pick back up," he told Newsmax's "Saturday Agenda."
"We used between 10[%] and 15% of our THAAD [Terminal High Altitude Area Defense] missiles defending the Israelis against Iran. We have our own needs.
"I'm defending the Pentagon, by the way. I defended the Pentagon in that meeting ... Simply because the other agencies don't approve of the policy doesn't change the fact that we are logistically strained and can only produce so much per month to meet global needs," Shaffer said.
"So at this point, President [Donald] Trump, I think, was aware that [Defense Secretary] Pete [Hegseth] was going to make the pause. Otherwise, I think we would have heard something on that.
"And this is inconvenient. But the reality is this: The Russians are about to take Kostiantynivka, Pokrovsk. And they're actually threatening Kupiansk, near Kharkiv. They're making progress all across," he added.
"Russians are suffering between 3,000 to 3,500 casualties per month, but recruiting over 30,000. We don't know about the Ukrainian numbers. But right now, at this point, without any outside interference or forces, the Russians will continue to gain ground.
"And I'm skeptical of anything we can do regarding additional defense systems capabilities going in to prevent what's happening. At this point, I think President Trump is pushing for a diplomatic solution," Shaffer said.
"The way you get to that, I think, is going at the Russian oil — outproducing them, dropping the price. Otherwise, we don't have many levers. And I hate to ... be the bearer of bad news here, but that's kind of the situation."
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.