Russian President Vladimir
Putin likely regrets invading Ukraine but will never admit it, said former NATO
leader James Stavridis.
Stavridis was NATO’s
Supreme Allied Commander in Europe from 2009 to 2013.
Stavridis was a guest on
“The Cats Roundtable” on WABC New York, a show hosted by
grocery-store billionaire John Catsimatidis, who also owns WABC.
Asked whether Putin knew the
invasion of Ukraine was a mistake, Stavridis said: “I think in the dark,
quiet hours at two o’clock in the morning when he wakes up, he realizes he’s
made a mistake. Publicly, he’ll never admit that. Never.”
Stavridis said Putin would
maintain the “fiction” that Neo-Nazis run Ukraine and that he was
forced into the conflict by NATO, rather than choosing to invade.
But, he said, Putin knows he
is responsible for the invasion, the sanctions, and the military pushback.
“I think he knows it in
his heart, he’ll never admit it publicly,” he said.
Putin is “burning through
capability” in Russia’s military, per Stavridi.
“I’d say, six months from
now, he’s going to be in very dire straits,” Stavridis said, at which
point he speculated that negotiations could begin.
