Retired general: Putin will likely 'wait out' Trump term and take Ukraine

Retired U.S. Army Gen. Jack Keane said he suspects Russian President Vladimir Putin will wait for President Trump to leave office before trying to topple the government in Ukraine.

In an interview Saturday on Fox News, Keane said he does not think Putin will ever give up his long-term goal of taking over Ukraine, even if he accepts a peace agreement during Trump’s time in office.

Keane said he thinks Putin is “willing to, at some point, if the deal is OK with him, to accept a peace agreement and a ceasefire.”

“But he’s not given up on his strategic goal to topple the government in Ukraine and take over the country,” Keane continued, adding, “So, where is he coming from? He’ll wait out President Trump, I suspect, and attack.”

Trump administration officials have focused intently on beginning talks to negotiate an end to the Russia-Ukraine war, which began nearly three years ago when Putin led an unprovoked attack on his neighboring country.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and national security adviser Mike Waltz are planning to meet with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss an end to the war.

Asked whether he thinks it will be difficult for Trump “to get the kind of peace” agreement he wants, Keane said in the interview, “No."

“I think he can get a peace agreement,” Keane said. “But what I think will happen is ... it [is] likely he [Putin] will not take on his goal of toppling the government in Ukraine until after Trump is out of the presidency.”

Keane nodded to intelligence that suggested Putin anticipated his invasion of Ukraine would happen swiftly and with little resistance. Instead, he encountered a resolute Ukrainian military, backed by a strengthened NATO alliance.

“Listen, everything is on the line for him. He has strategic failure here. He thought this was going to take place in two to three weeks, that people would capitulate. It did not happen,” Keane said about Putin.

“And here we are going into a third year,” he continued. “The reality is, his presidency is at stake. And I think also his personal life is at stake if all of this blows up on him.”

Trump told reporters Sunday that he thinks Putin “wants to stop fighting” and that he is not still aiming to take all of Ukrainian territory.

Asked about Putin’s territorial ambitions — and whether he thinks Putin wants the whole of Ukraine’s land — Trump said he asked Putin the same question.

“I think he wants to stop. That was my question to him. Because if he’s going to go on, that would have been a big problem for us, and that would have caused me a big problem, because you just can’t let that happen,” Trump said.

“I think he wants to end it. And they want to end it fast. Both of them,” Trump continued, noting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “wants to end it too.”

In an interview that aired Sunday on NBC News’s “Meet the Press,” Zelensky told host Kristen Welker that, when he last talked to Trump, the Ukrainian president advised Trump against trusting Putin when he says he wants peace. Zelensky said he told Trump that Putin is “a liar” and is “a little bit scared” of Trump.

Zelensky said he thinks Trump is “strong” and “can push Putin to peace negotiations.

"Yes, I think so. I think he can,” he said, adding, “But don’t trust him. Don’t trust Putin. Don’t trust just words about ceasefire.”

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