Blaine Holt to Newsmax: Ukrainian Strike Puts World on 'Escalation Path'

The Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday that destroyed 40 aircraft deep inside Russia put the world on an "escalation path," retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt told Newsmax, saying that it's one that is difficult to reverse.

Russian state media and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that the latest round of direct peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv in Istanbul ended after just over an hour. The second round of negotiations comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin declined to attend the first direct attempt to wind down the war, which began in February 2022.

Holt, appearing on "Wake Up America," said he will "pray for a breakthrough" of some kind during the negotiations "that nobody saw coming."

"I'll tell you, I've been on the air, and I've been blessed to be on the air with you all since Kabul fell [and] I've never been more concerned about global or national security in my life than I am right now," Holt said. "I understand it's a tactical win, the Ukrainians have a tactical win, but they hit a third of a strategic bomber force that is covered by a START treaty [nuclear arms reduction treaty] that goes back to 2010. There is no Russian in the military there that believes that Ukraine was able to achieve this without Western intelligence help, including our country.

"The leader of rocket forces for Russia has now openly said they are now locking in the coordinates for Paris, London and Washington, D.C. This is an escalation path now without a reverse gear. I pray there's a reverse gear that President [Donald] Trump can find by calling President Putin, but, as a military officer with 27 years of service at the flag level and NATO service, I can tell you we are in a big dangerous place that we weren't in three days ago, and I pray that something good happens in those talks today."

Asked for a worst-case scenario, if the peace talks don't go well, Holt said, "the worst that can happen is that we get on an escalatory path."

"Russia blames NATO, blames the United States, they don't take calls from President Trump anymore and we're in a Cold War situation, much like we were when I was a young second lieutenant," he said, adding that, in such a scenario, the U.S. would be "always at the edge, looking for some pathway to talk to the Russians and potentially looking at a hot war."

Holt said that "no one should take this lightly," given the potential for escalation, and said he has previously warned that "the Europeans need to follow President Trump's leadership on this."

"Can you tell me that they're going to militarily defeat Russia? No, they can't," Holt said, referring to the Ukrainians. "This was a masterful event like the Doolittle Raid, but it doesn't have the legs behind it. And if you can't carry it through to victory, then what are you doing with the bear that has nuclear weapons?"

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