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."
And if the ceasefire could lead to a sustainable long-term peace that deters Russia from further aggression, "I think that could be an end to this war for a long time to come," Volker said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday the United States will present the ceasefire offer to the Kremlin.
"If they say no, then we'll unfortunately know what the impediment is to peace here," he said.
Volker told Newsmax that Ukraine's willingness to sign on for a ceasefire is a "great step" because that returns the country and the United States into alignment after the blowup between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House.
"There were a lot of differences and arguments between the U.S. and Ukraine, which were really unnecessary," Volker said.
The agreement turns the spotlight onto Russia, "where it should be," as "Russia is the one that started this war," he added.
But he warned that Russia will "try to play" around before signing the agreement.
"What they're going to do is say 'yes, but' and then they're going to throw in something completely, completely irrelevant or extraneous as an excuse as to why they can't do this," said Volker.
This means the United States must remain firm, as Trump has been clear on bringing an end to the fighting, he added.
"We shouldn't get distracted chasing these rabbits down different rabbit holes," he said. "We should be clear with the Russians; now is the time to stop."
The playing field must also be set to make Russia want to stop the war, said Volker.
"If you just take away all of the pressure on Russia, there's no reason for them to actually stop fighting," he said.
If Russian President Vladimir Putin refuses a ceasefire, Trump must target its economy with stopping the cash flow from the Russian sale of oil and gas, as tariffs "are not a big deal" to Moscow.
Many foreign policy experts agree that ending the war may mean Ukraine ceding land to Russia, but Volker said there must be a difference made between "not taking the territory back militarily" and risk relaunching the war.
"I think we need to support Ukraine in continuing to dispute Russia's occupation of parts of Ukraine, but to do so through peaceful means, not through war," Volker said.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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