Kurt Volker to Newsmax: Putin Wants to Keep Fighting in Ukraine

Russia's demands to end the war in Ukraine simply show President Vladimir Putin wants to continue fighting, Amb. Kurt Volker told Newsmax on Wednesday.

Volker, former ambassador to NATO and former special representative to Ukraine, appeared on Newsmax's "Wake Up America" to discuss the state of negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S., which is trying to help end the war that began with Moscow's unprovoked invasion in February 2022.

Host Marc Lotter listed some of Russia's hard-line demands and asked Volker whether Moscow's offer resembled anything close to what ultimately will be agreed upon when the war ends.

"No, not at all. I'm surprised the Russians didn't throw Alaska into the bargain as well," Volker said. "This is completely, completely over the top. It shows that they are interested in fighting. They are interested in continuing the war. They have launched massive drone and missile strikes every night for the past week, as they've done for months and months and months on end.

"So, Russia is just interested in fighting here and just playing games with these negotiations. You also see that in the level of people they're sending to, they're not even sending, let alone Putin, not even their foreign minister or national security adviser, just some diplomats there to hand over a piece of paper."

Volker explained that Putin "has this ideological obsession that Ukraine must not exist as a sovereign, independent country."

"He thinks they're all really Russians that are just confused," Volker said of the Russian leader. "And so he is not going to give up on that. But what he is doing is he is making his country weaker and weaker by the day, and we ought to pile on. This is what we did with Star Wars and Reagan, you know, make him spend the money, make him do everything that he can in order to weaken Russia and eventually cause him to say, it's time to stop the war.

"The sanctions package that [South Carolina Republican Sen.] Lindsey Graham has proposed in the Senate, that would be secondary sanctions on people who are helping Russia evade the primary ones that could have a significant impact on his state budget and might be a bit of a wake-up call as well."

Volker said the time has come for President Donald Trump to move ahead with increased sanctions on Russia.

"I think President Trump has deliberately held back because he's trying to pull Putin in. He wants Putin to agree to a ceasefire and then a settlement. And he doesn't think that by pressuring him, you're going to get him to willingly come forward and do a ceasefire," he told Lotter. "Well, Putin has shown that that's not true. Putin has shown that he is reading Trump's positioning here as weak, that he can continue the fighting. And so it is time to move ahead.

"And I think what President Trump will do is give the Republicans in the Senate a green light to go ahead and pass this. You know, give me the legislation that's going to double down on all of these sanctions. Try to use that with Putin to get them to finally stop the war. And if it doesn't, he'll execute."

Volker added that the "military pressure coming from Ukraine, the financial pressure coming from the United States and Europe, the manpower pressure that the Russians, frankly, are doing to themselves by these meat grinder tactics on the battlefield in Ukraine" could force Putin to seek peace.

GET TODAY NEWSMAX+:

NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America with more than 30 million people watching!

Reuters Institute reports NEWSMAX is one of the top news brands in the U.S.

You need to watch NEWSMAX today.

Get it with great shows from Rob Schmitt, Greta Van Susteren, Greg Kelly, Carl Higbie, Rob Finnerty – and many more!

Find the NEWSMAX channel on your cable system – Go Here Now

BEST OFFER:

Sign up for NEWSMAX+ and get NEWSMAX, our streaming channel NEWSMAX2 and our military channel World at War.

Find hundreds of shows, movies and specials.

Even get Jon Voight's special series and President Trump's comedy programs and much more!

Watch NEWSMAX+ on your smartphone or home TV app.

Watch NEWSMAX anytime, anywhere!