(NewsNation) — Retired Lt. Gen. Richard Newton visited “Morning in America” Monday morning and discussed the weekend’s events in Ukraine with anchor Adrienne Bankert.
The big news of the weekend was Russia’s missile attack on a military training base in Ukraine not far from the border with Poland. The base has been used in the past for training exercises with NATO troops, although none were present at the time. The attack killed at least 34 and showed that Russian President Vladimir Putin is expanding the range of his military’s attacks and isn’t afraid to get close to a border with a NATO country.
Newton said it was, “significant in showing that he’s going beyond just the eastern flank of Ukraine and now extending to the west.” He said it was also backing up comments by the Russian foreign minister about targeting any efforts to resupply Ukraine.
As to whether the attack would change the U.S. strategy in Ukraine, Newton said that while he doubted it would effect a change, it certainly was a “wake-up call” showing that Putin was trying to extend his reach.
The attack was spurred by the fact that Putin is “on his heels,” according to Newton, on the Ukrainian invasion. He’s off his timeline and the invasion is taking far longer and costing far more both in money and lives than Putin and his generals had ever calculated. Newton noted that not only was the base near Poland, but it was near the corridors being used by refugees fleeing to escape the war.
Newton said that the missile attack doesn’t change the U.S. and NATO strategy toward the war, in that they are determined to keep the conflict within Ukraine. However, it does change things for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in that now he knows the western region of his country can come under attack.
Shifting to the U.S. policy on aid to Ukraine, Newton said, “It’s a very nimble situation that we’re in. On the one hand, we’re trying to show no ambiguity on the fact that we’ll defend NATO … but we also need be more ambiguous as to what our red lines are and not try to discuss every type of red line that we would cross or not cross. All elements of national power need to be on the table.”
See the full interview in the video player at the top of the page.
