Former Under Secretary of Defense Robert Wilkie told Newsmax Friday that when President-elect Donald Trump returns to the Oval Office next month, "he will demand that the Ukrainians actually mobilize their country."
"The American people are spending tens of billions of dollars, and Zelenskyy refuses to draft anyone between the ages of 18 and 25," Wilkie said on "American Agenda." "We can't do for others what they are not willing to do for themselves.
"As much as we admire the courage of the Ukrainians in the field and the fact that they are eating away at one of the great malefactors in the world," he said, referencing Russia, "Zelenskyy has to pull out all the stops instead of demanding more of the American people and more of countries like Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. He's got to put his people in the front lines to fight the Russians, and then I think President Trump will take him very seriously."
Ukraine has lost 43,000 soldiers killed in action and 370,000 more were wounded since Russia's full-scale invasion began in February 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a recent Telegram Post.
Trump has been a frequent critic of the amount of foreign aid that has gone to bolster Ukraine's war effort against Russian aggression during President Joe Biden's term in office.
Wilkie also commented on the recent spate of Ukrainian attacks on key military officials and pro-war sympathizers deep inside Russian territory.
"This is the attempt of the Ukrainians to take the war to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's doorstep," he said.
"And they're doing it across the country just to remind the Russian people, in spite of what propaganda is coming out of the Kremlin, that the Russians are losing upwards of 2,000 people a day — in fact, I think on Nov. 30 they lost over 3,000 people on that one day — and that anywhere in Russia they can be reaching out and touching high-ranking Russian officials."
The killing of Russian Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov in a bombing outside his apartment building in Moscow last week was the most high-profile hit on a senior military officer yet, with the Kremlin saying Wednesday it was "obvious" that Ukraine was behind Kirillov's death.
Kyiv "does not shy away from terrorist methods," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia's Security Council, said the attack was an attempt by Ukraine to draw public attention away from its military failures and vowed that Kyiv’s "senior military-political leadership will face inevitable retribution."
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
- Find Newsmax channel in your home via cable and satellite systems – More Info Here
- Watch Newsmax+ on your home TV app or smartphone and watch it anywhere! Try it for FREE – See More Here: NewsmaxPlus.com
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.