Retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark told Newsmax Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ambitions go far beyond Ukraine and that the recent summit between Putin and President Donald Trump should not be viewed as a victory for either side.
“I don’t think it was a win, but I think we can’t look at things that way,” Clark, the former NATO supreme allied commander, said in an interview on Newsmax’s “Sunday Report.” “President Putin, since he’s been in office, has wanted to restore the Soviet Union. He said it was the greatest tragedy of the 20th century, the collapse of the Soviet Union. And he’s worked methodically, patiently, but with deliberate violence to accomplish this.”
Clark said that U.S. policy over several administrations has failed to stop Putin’s expansionist efforts.
“When they invaded Crimea in 2014, the United States counseled Ukraine to give up Crimea so we wouldn’t provoke Putin,” he said. “There’s a long track record of not being able to stand up to Putin.”
A key issue raised during the Trump-Putin discussions was the possibility of security guarantees for Ukraine, and Clark questioned the weight of such assurances.
“When President Trump says he will consider security guarantees, that’s what he means. There’s no promise of a security guarantee. And if there is, we don’t know what that means,” Clark said.
He noted that in 1994, “the United States signed the Budapest Memorandum. It didn’t say guarantee. It said we will assure the territorial integrity of Ukraine. We failed in that. We didn’t assure it.”
Clark added that Ukraine faces difficult choices, particularly regarding the contested Donetsk region. “Those positions have been defended now for 11 years successfully,” he said. “There’s nothing between those positions until you get back to the river, 100 and some odd miles to the west, and you’re in Kyiv at that point, or Dnipropetrovsk.”
He also said Putin’s objectives are not limited to Ukraine. “He wants all of Ukraine, wants the Baltics, wants to change the alignment of Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, maybe finish off Georgia, and Moldova. These are big aims, and he gets them step by step,” Clark said.
He warned that Russia will likely use negotiations to push for sanctions relief and economic openings.
“Unless we demand the demobilization of the Russian military and the end of this big military industrial buildup, what we’re doing is setting the stage for the next wave of Russian expansion into Europe,” Clark said.
Clark also said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is under significant pressure as peace talks continue. “It’s certainly not the move that Ukraine wants. But it’s probably going to be very hard for Zelenskyy to resist this. If President Trump says, You’ve got to do this, and here’s my security guarantee, then you’re looking at a real-time give-up,” he said, noting that more than 200,000 people could be displaced if Ukraine concedes territory.
“The Ukrainian military is determined to fight to protect its sovereignty,” Clark added. “They understand that when Putin rolls this forward, it’s not just a conquest of territory. It’s the end of Ukraine as a nation, the end of the culture, the language, the traditions, and obviously the freedom to join and be associated with the West.”
Clark said negotiations could pause the conflict but would not end Putin’s broader ambitions. “It’s possible to get a temporary cessation of fighting with the right concessions. Mr. Putin needs a breathing spell. He wants the end of sanctions. But as long as he’s trying to neutralize Ukraine and deprive it of its means to defend itself, you can see the next steps.”
GET TODAY :
is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America with more than 30 million people watching!
Reuters Institute reports is one of the top news brands in the U.S.
You need to watch today.
Get it with great shows from Rob Schmitt, Greta Van Susteren, Greg Kelly, Carl Higbie, Rob Finnerty – and many more!
Find the channel on your cable system –
Sign up for and get , our streaming channel and our military channel World at War.
Find hundreds of shows, movies and specials.
Even get Jon Voight’s special series and President Trump’s comedy programs and much more!
Watch on your smartphone or home TV app.
Watch anytime, anywhere!
Start your now:
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
