Former undersecretary of defense Robert Wilkie said on Newsmax on Saturday that Moscow's latest contacts with U.S. envoys amounted to "de facto recognition" by Russia that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy leads "a democratically elected government in Kyiv," even as Wilkie argued he has seen no sign Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to compromise.
The former Secretary of Veterans Affairs made his remarks on "America Right Now" in response to questions about recent meetings involving Putin, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser to the president Jared Kushner.
"Well, the only difference is that you have de facto recognition from the Russian Federation that Zelenskyy is a legitimate leader of a democratically elected government in Kyiv," Wilkie said. "Other than that, I haven't seen any indication that Putin is willing to compromise."
Wilkie said he expected Russia to prolong diplomacy while sustaining pressure on Ukraine, calling it "the traditional Russian tactic" to "string things along."
In the days before Wilkie's appearance, Reuters reported that Putin met late Thursday in the Kremlin with Witkoff and Kushner as part of talks focused on the war in Ukraine and follow-up security negotiations involving Russia, the United States and Ukraine.
Asked whether President Donald Trump risked diminishing his credibility by publicly saying Putin wants to end the war, Wilkie pointed to private channels and said, "I'm pretty sure that there are some messages being sent to the Kremlin that are certainly not for public consumption."
Wilkie then cited figures from the British Ministry of Defence to argue that Russia's battlefield losses were mounting.
"In the last three months, Putin has lost each month 25,000 dead," Wilkie said, adding, "We lost 56,000 dead in my father's war in Vietnam. And that was over a 10-year period."
He said Putin "is going to end up running out of Koreans, Africans, Arabs that he's brought in to kill," and argued that without sharper pressure, Moscow would keep fighting.
"Unless we are telling him that the Tomahawks will fly from Ukraine and that there will be an endless stream of munitions going into Ukraine, I don't think Putin is in a position, after he's told his country that this is vital for the security of the Russian state, that he's going to quit anytime soon."
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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