Col. Douglas Macgregor told Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson on Monday why the war in Ukraine must end immediately.
Carlson said in his starting monologue that the media is lying that Ukraine’s army is thriving in the war against Russia. He warned that U.S. troops will have to take over to defeat Russian President Vladimir Putin, but Macgregor warned the U.S. could lose in a potential “catastrophic war.”
“I think all of the lies that have been told for more than a year-and-a-half about the Ukrainians are winning, the Ukrainian cause is just, the Russians are evil, the Russians are incompetent,” Macgregor began. “All of that is collapsing, and it’s collapsing because what’s happening on the battlefield is horrific.”
Macgregor estimated that 400,000 Ukrainian men have been killed in the last month, though the true estimations amount to around 70,000 deaths. He claimed many Ukrainians have surrendered to the Russians because they are physically unable to fight due to injuries.
Ep. 18 Into the abyss: Colonel Douglas Macgregor tells us why the Ukraine war must end now. pic.twitter.com/a3bGLvJC4s
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 21, 2023
Macgregor, a former Army officer who served in the Vietnam War, warned of the possibility of using nuclear weaponry and “escalation” since opponents will feel obligated to use their nuclear weapons or risk losing them. He said Russia will particularly be angry if troops from a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) country set foot on Ukrainian soil.
The colonel also warned the Ukrainians are waiting for the U.S. to be involved. He said if the war continues, Russian troops will line up on the Polish border, a NATO country. He said the U.S.’ attempts to help Ukraine have “failed” and have only mobilized Russia to prepare for eventual war with the U.S.
“This is a no-win situation because the Russians, though they were not prepared in February 2022 for this kind of war, they are now,” Macgregor said. “And they’re continuing to prepare, which includes continuous mobilization. They’re up to 750,000 troops in and around Ukraine. Most of them are on the outskirts, Bielorussia, Western Russia, down in southern Ukraine. That number is going to rise over the next year, I would expect to 1.2 million.” (RELATED: ‘Play Some Political Snakes And Ladders’: Ramaswamy Talks Campaign, America’s Future And Foreign Policy With Tucker)
“Our intransigents, our demonstrated hatred and hostility for Moscow and for Russia has convinced the Russian people, as well as the leadership in Moscow, that they are going to have to fight us and anyone who is aligned with us. So they’re preparing for the eventuality. That’s why it’s so important that we have to wake up, understand what we’ve done has backfired. Whatever we set out to achieve has failed, What we need to do now is stop this and come to a settlement that we may not like. But it need to happen and soon before this thing is out of control.”
Macgregor further pointed to a possibility of the war reaching the U.S. if it continues to escalate. He estimated that hundreds of Americans are likely fighting alongside Ukrainians because the President Joe Biden authorized combat pay, and that the U.S. forces are much weaker than the American public is led to believe.
“If you press this war with Russia in Central East Europe, it will reach us here in the United States,” he told Carlson.
He accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the “radicals around him” of being determined to continue fighting the war.
“Zelenskyy and the radicals around him are basically committed to fighting this war to the last Ukrainian. And of course I’m sure that Mr. Zelenskyy and friends are anxious at some point to retire to their estates in Florida, or Venice or Cyprus to collect on the billions that they’ve managed to steal or siphon from all the aid that we’ve provided. Remember, Ukraine is probably one of the most corrupt places in the world.”
He described Zelenskyy as a former comedian who pretended to be transvestite and got involved with an oligarch. Macgregor said the Ukrainian president vowed to make peace with Russia during his campaign, and won his election by a landslide.
Macgregor has appeared on Russian state TV where he has been accused of pushing Russian propaganda.