Moscow might be in denial that Ukraine's much-smaller military was able to sink Russia's lead warship in the Black Sea, and the Pentagon says it's still unclear what happened, but sources inside Ukraine are confirming it was a missile strike that took the ship out, retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt said Friday on Newsmax.
"I can confirm that all of the sources that I work with in Ukraine would confirm that that ship went down," said Holt on "Wake Up America." "I can confirm one source in Russia believes that they believe that the ship was shot down by the Ukrainians."
As for U.S. intelligence sources, "I don't know what they're working and what they're releasing, but Ukrainians see this as a major score," Holt said.
Russia has been launching reprisal strikes on Kyiv as a result, so "the caution is what we saw last night. The reprisals? What severity will they be?" Holt asked.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been making threats about Sweden and Finland potentially becoming NATO member nations, because "he thinks that because you share a border with him, he gets to determine what your sovereign country does," Holt said.
But with Finland and Sweden, such opposition will "galvanize their resolve," Holt added. "He's barking up the wrong tree. I know the Finnish and the Swedish very well, and all that will do is galvanize their resolve. NATO will be better off for having those two nations. NATO is the big winner here."
The retired general also commented on the potential for Russia invading Moldova, a non-NATO country located to the southwest of Ukraine, saying that he's "very concerned that this country without any military whatsoever would be a very easy take for Putin prior to May 9.
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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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