Russia has shifted the focus of its war against Ukraine to inflict a "continuous barrage of pain" that targets everything critical to daily life, and "this is going to get a lot worse before it gets better," Retired Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer told Newsmax on Friday.
"They're not using military forces but leading with the targeting of power, of water, of all the utilities, which make up anything critical to the daily life of any Ukrainian," Shaffer, the president of the London Center for Policy Research, said on Newsmax's "John Bachman Now."
"They want to inflict pain to try to break the will of the Ukrainian people, and I feel terrible for the Ukrainian people. They're caught in the middle of this. They have no say at this point because both sides have determined they're going to continue to fight."
Shaffer noted that it's only the beginning of winter, with the most severe cold hitting Ukraine in the next three months.
Meanwhile, NATO has promised unlimited aid to Ukraine, said Shaffer, but he thinks that is sending a wrong signal, as it will encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to also target European nations, if not with military weapons, by threatening oil resources.
"Remember, at one point, Putin controlled 40% of the fuel going into Germany," said Shaffer. "He's trying to figure out a way to break the will of NATO nations."
The best thing for NATO to do at this point is to continue the pledged humanitarian support to the people of Ukraine, he added.
"We don't want expanded conflict, which could draw all of NATO into it," said Shaffer. "It would not be helpful at this point in time for anyone."
Putin, meanwhile, is vulnerable with the Russian people, and there are chances that he or his regime could collapse with every battlefield defeat, said Schaffer.
"If you want to stop Putin, you've got to defund his ability to fund his military," said Shaffer. "That means removing the dropping the price of oil. We could do that by increasing our exports and dropping the price of oil and going after the oligarchs and the resources."
However, Shaffer said he doesn't see much progress with that scenario.
"Until someone does that, Putin will continue to safely run the military and the war with support from Iran," he said.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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