Retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt told Newsmax on Friday that a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia is "on the horizon."
"There is a peace deal on the horizon, whether you look at the 28-point peace plan [or] the 19-point peace plan," Holt told "Finnerty" and guest host Rick Leventhal, referring to proposals brokered by the Trump administration.
"But right now, we have all of the rhetoric that’s out there from European leaders, from President Zelenskyy, even in Moscow — everybody throwing down where things are unacceptable," he said. "And so, some of the diplomatic sausage-making is starting to show.
"But that’s OK because you have to go through this phase to get to the ground you want to be on.
"The ground we want to be on is Ukraine as a sovereign state, a plan to rebuild her, a seaport that she has and stop the killing. And Russia stops where they’re at.
"And we all try to start working together in a demilitarized format."
Holt said Europe must begin following President Donald Trump’s lead for any deal to take shape.
"And that goes for the neocons here in the United States as well," he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday announced the resignation of his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, who was also Kyiv’s lead negotiator in talks with the U.S., after anti-corruption investigators searched Yermak’s residence.
Holt said he expects Zelenskyy himself will face scrutiny.
"This scandal couldn’t come at a worse time," he said. "He’s supposed to be focused on the war’s end, and he’s getting pulled in a tug of war between Brussels and Washington.
"Yermak is probably in a lot of trouble … this isn’t going away. So, what better time than right now than to take the competing factions in the Ukrainian parliament and let them pick a new leader to get them the rest of the way there?"
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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