Washington – Lieutenant General HR McMaster, Donald Trump's former national security adviser, said on Sunday that the coming months will be “really important” to determine the “next phase” of the war in Ukraine as the president-elect is expected to act. Is. When he enters the office he presses for a compromise through negotiations.
CBS News contributor McMaster said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that both Russia and Ukraine “are encouraged to gain as much leverage as they can on the battlefield before the new Trump administration comes in” because both countries Want to take advantage. In conversation.
With a view to strengthening Ukraine's position before President-elect Donald Trump returns to office in the new year, the Biden administration agreed in recent days to provide anti-personnel landmines For use, while raising the bar On Ukraine's use of US-made long-range missiles to strike inside Russian territory. The move comes as Ukraine marks more than 1,000 days since Russia's invasion in February 2022.
Meanwhile, several of Trump's key picks for top posts in his administration – Representative Mike Waltz for National Security Advisor and Senators Marco Rubio for Secretary of State and J.D. Vance for Vice President – have not been helpful in providing continued aid to Ukraine. . Or advocated ending the war through negotiations.
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McMaster said that mobility is “a real problem” and deals a “psychological blow to Ukrainians”.
He said, “The Ukrainian people are struggling to generate the manpower they need and to maintain their defensive efforts, and it is vital that they get the weapons and training they need, but they They also have to believe that they can win.” Said. “And any kind of message that we might reduce our aid is quite damaging to them from an ethical perspective.”
McMaster said he hopes the likes of Trump, and the president-elect himself, “will begin to see the absolutely clear connection between the war in Ukraine and this axis of aggressors who are doing everything they can to dismantle the existing international order.” ” He noted North Korean troops fighting on European soil in the first major war in Europe since World War II, efforts by China to “maintain Russia's war-making machine”, and drones provided on a large scale by Iran. And cited missiles. Picture.
McMaster said, “So I think what's happened is that a lot of people have taken such a myopic view of Ukraine, and they've misunderstood Putin's intentions and how lethal the war is to our interests, ” McMaster said.
On Trump's picks for top national security and defense positions, McMaster stressed the importance of the Senate's advice and consent role in ensuring that “the best people are in those positions.”
McMaster explained that based on his experience, Trump listens to advice and learns from those around him. And he argued that nominees for director of national intelligence and secretary of defense should be asked key questions such as how they would “establish peace through strength”, and what they think would motivate Russian President Vladimir Putin to “motivate, drive And disrupts.
Trump has appointed former Representative Tulsi Gabbard, who has been criticized for her views on Russia and other US adversaries, as director of national intelligence. McMaster said Sunday that Gabbard has a “fundamental misunderstanding” about what motivates Putin.
More broadly, McMaster said that he “can't understand” those Republicans who “rebuke Vladimir Putin,” adding, “They have to distance themselves from this strange affection for Vladimir Putin.”
Meanwhile, when asked about Trump's recent selection of Sebastian Gorka as senior director for counterterrorism and Deputy Assistant to the President, McMaster said he did not think Gorka would advise the president-elect on national security. Is a good person to give. But he added that “the President, other people working with him will probably determine that very quickly.”