⚡️Putin will PAY for war! Xi Jinping shocking Ukraine statement ROCKS world

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]According to Financial Times, Xi Jinping told President Trump that Vladimir Putin might and regretting invasion of Ukraine. Can you imagine a scenario in which Xi Jinping tells Trump something like this?

[00:00:17]>> Well, it's it's interesting that he made that point and I think it's in part to demonstrate that in the in the current Sino-Russian alliance that China is the dominant partner. This is not the Sino-Soviet alliance of the Cold War where the Soviet Union was the dominant partner.

[00:00:36]And it it may give us an insight in into Putin's thinking that that's what he had indicated to Xi Jinping, but there's no reflection of that yet as far as I can tell specifically on with respect to to Ukraine publicly in Europe or North America. That interesting if he could if Putin confided that to G that G passed it on.

[00:00:59]>> John Bolton is former Trump's National Security Advisor and former US Ambassador to United Nations. Welcome back to our program, Ambassador Bolton.

[00:01:09]>> Glad to be with you. Thanks for having me.

[00:01:11]>> And as usual, if you would like to see more such deep dive conversation, please subscribe to my YouTube channel World at Stake. It will help us to reach wider audience. So, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday that Russian forces are beginning systematic strikes on decision-making centers and Ukrainian military compounds in Kyiv.

[00:01:40]Meanwhile, last week US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced US probably US withdrawal from Ukraine war negotiations.

[00:01:52]So, is this decision of Russia to strike Kyiv a sign of desperation or another attempt to bully Ukraine into a bad deal.

[00:02:03]>> Well, there have been reports for some time that would there would be some kind of Russian offensive in the spring or summer of this year. And that Russian military leaders believe that the Ukrainian military was close to collapsing and that with this attack uh this projected attack that that that might finally bring the Russians the victory they'd sought uh 4 4 years ago or more. Uh obviously it hasn't happened yet. It could be what Lavrov is uh referring to in his conversation with Rubio is that attack or or it just could be another effort to justify hitting civilian targets in Kyiv and other major Ukrainian cities. Uh I think the uh objective military state on the battlefield is that the war is at a minimum at a standstill and that Ukraine is beginning to make uh at least small territorial gains and and it could well be that it's the Russian forces that are about to crack, not the Ukrainian forces. So, I think there's uh a both a military uh assault coming, but also obviously a kind of psychological warfare hoping to push the Americans back and not uh not take notice of what's about to happen. I I hope that isn't the result, but uh what we're now going to have to wait and see whether the Russian threat is unfortunately is real or whether it's a bluff.

[00:03:25]>> From your perspective, is United States still in the game in this negotiations because Marco Rubio last week uh said that you US could to pull pull back from uh Ukraine war negotiations.

[00:03:39]>> Well, look, I think Trump wants the Nobel Peace Prize. I think a lot of what he does boils down to that. He doesn't see a prospect of getting a resolution between Ukraine and Russia for uh for a a of obvious reasons. So, he's he just has lost interest in the conflict. He has no strategic frame of reference here. He just sees that he's not going to get the Nobel Peace Prize because there's no peace to be gained by negotiation. Uh but I do think if you look at support for Ukraine uh in in the US Congress on a very bipartisan basis, which which is unusual these days, uh that there's a lot of interest in supporting Ukraine so that uh uh Trump Trump himself may not want to pay much attention to it. He's obviously focused on Iran and the war in the Gulf there uh at the moment, but uh it could be that uh that he would be required to take more uh care with Ukraine because because things on the battlefield are changing the reality.

[00:04:38]>> Let's also cover another interesting development about ceasefire because Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week during a behind closed door meeting with Ukrainian members of parliament uh told Ukrainian lawmakers that the war could end by the end of November. There are such hopes in Ukraine's uh presidential administration that we can make a ceasefire deal until the end of November. At least President Zelenskyy knows how to force Putin to do ceasefire. What is your take on this?

[00:05:18]>> Well, my guess is that Putin is going to play out this idea that's been as I said current for some time that that uh there will be a decisive Russian victory within the next few months. But uh I don't think he Putin will ever be serious about negotiation until Russian forces are in retreat. Because as long as he's advancing, he can make the claim to the Russian people that this is simply part of recreating the Russian Empire against the uh the plans by NATO to reduce Russia to a to a small power status. But once he starts losing, then I think much of the pent-up discontent inside Russia could begin to come out. I I think I think there is a lot of discontent. I don't think it's visible. I don't think Putin is immediately threatened. But if conditions on the battlefield go start going against Russia, which there's a certainly good prospect of that happening, then I think his political circumstances inside Russia itself also become more difficult.

[00:06:21]>> And what about Ukraine's deep strikes inside Russia because Putin had to back Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to allow him to hold his military parade in Moscow on May 9th. Do you see this as humiliation for Vladimir Putin and does this also mean that Ukraine still has some cards in drone warfare?

[00:06:47]>> Yeah, I look, I think Ukraine's capability to strike deep inside Russia through a variety of different mechanisms and its ability to destroy much of the Black Sea Fleet has caught the Russians totally unprepared and this is evidence to the Russian people that things are not going well. It's one thing to say, you know, it's on the battlefield in Ukraine is is far removed from their daily lives, but when when they know they hear from friends and family the targets are being struck in and around Moscow or at key Russian military bases deep deep inside the country that Ukraine has capabilities that they didn't realize, maybe capabilities developed since the war has begun. And these are facts I think that that do change the equation from what Russia had hoped would be a quick victory into what Russia hoped would be a successful war of attrition, that even that is not going according to plan.

[00:07:42]>> Do you that right now Ukraine begins to winning this war by launching the strikes deep inside Russia striking Moscow and Russia's all refining capacity because according to Reuters Russia's major oil refining refineries have been forced to hold or reduce oil output following Ukraine drone campaign this month and last months.

[00:08:10]>> Yeah, it's it's hard to it's hard to have confidence in the specifics but the but the certainly the direction of of the of the war in that regard is moving in Ukraine's favor and that ability to strike deep inside Russian territory has to undermine the Kremlin's leadership the confidence in in what they're able to do.

[00:08:30]We we do have to note though that since the war in the in the Gulf started with the global price of oil rising even though Russia's still selling it below market prices because of sanctions it's had a big bump and therefore its financial system has has improved including through the waiver of American sanctions that the Trump administration granted which I thought was a a big mistake and a continuing mistake.

[00:08:55]>> Meanwhile we have also some implications of US Israel war against Iran for Ukraine because Ukraine made some defense cooperation deals with Gulf Nations what is your assessment of this this cooperation and what would this lead to?

[00:09:15]>> Well, I think the the recognition by the Gulf Arab states Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates and others that Ukraine's technology was exactly what they needed to counteract the threat of drones from Iran is a big wake-up call all around the world including to the United States that that what Ukraine has done is not simply hold out but it has advanced defensive capabilities through its counter drone efforts in ways that can benefit the entire NATO alliance. I mean, this is the kind of activity that gives Ukraine friends in parts of the world they never thought of before, but also strengthens the case for NATO coming to the decision that Ukraine should be admitted as a member.

[00:10:00]>> You just mentioned about NATO. US is withdrawing some troops from Europe. Is NATO still alive with President Trump in the White House?

[00:10:11]>> Well, it's [clears throat] it's it's always going to be in jeopardy as long as he's there because he doesn't fully understand how it works.

[00:10:18]I think there are are arguments for redeploying some American forces.

[00:10:23]There's been some confusion, but apparently now 5,000 troops will be deployed in Poland. This is on a rotational basis.

[00:10:31]We've had bases in Germany for a long long time since 1945. Certainly up until the end of the Cold War it made good sense. That's where the front line was between West Germany and East Germany.

[00:10:42]There may be good reasons. There are good reasons to keep our facilities at Rhein-Main Air Base, but but where particular troops are deployed is a subject that can be reviewed all the time and there's a good argument to put more into the Baltics, into Poland, maybe other Eastern European countries to bring them closer to the Russian threat. And that's if if we can if we can continue through the remainder of Trump's term without any more significant withdrawals of American forces, I think that would augur very well for the future.

[00:11:15]>> Let's also cover the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara this July.

[00:11:21]So, after months of discussions and conflicts between President Trump and European allies, how can they just gather together and participate in family photo.

[00:11:34]What do you expect from the summit in in in the matter of atmosphere and personal discussions between Trump and European allies? Could he try to punish Europeans?

[00:11:47]>> Well, it's going to be a very delicate gathering. I I wrote in my book about the 2018 NATO summit in Brussels where he came close to withdrawing from NATO.

[00:11:57]And so I hope ways can be found to avoid getting into that kind of risk again. Frankly, if they just had a summit, even if it didn't accomplish very much, if things didn't go backward, I would consider that a victory.

[00:12:12]>> And from your perspective, what are the chances of Trump's decision to completely withdraw from NATO right now?

[00:12:20]>> I think it's always just below the surface. He doesn't understand how the alliance works. He thinks the United States gets no benefit out of it. That's not how most members of Congress feel.

[00:12:30]I think he's got a lot on his plate and because of the war in Iran and because of the upcoming election the midterm election for Congress in November. So hopefully, as I say, if if the NATO summit passes without much happening that's eventful, that's almost certainly a good thing.

[00:12:49]>> And what's your take on the role of NATO's Secretary General Mark Rutte in managing President Trump?

[00:12:58]>> I think Secretary General Rutte has done a good job. He's obviously got a very difficult task, but he he was able to relate to Trump when he was Prime Minister of the Netherlands in the first term.

[00:13:12]And he followed a lot of good work that had been done by Jens Stoltenberg of Norway.

[00:13:17]So for for Rutte, we just keep our fingers crossed that things go well, but I think he's done a a great job so far.

[00:13:24]>> We had the big summits this month between China, Russia, China, United States.

[00:13:31]According to Financial Times, Xi Jinping told President Trump that Vladimir Putin might and regretting in the invasion of Ukraine. Can you imagine a scenario in which Xi Jinping tells Trump something like this?

[00:13:49]>> Well, it's it's interesting that he made that point and I think it's in part to demonstrate that in the in the current Sino-Russian alliance that China is the dominant partner. This is not the Sino-Soviet alliance of the Cold War where the Soviet Union was the dominant partner.

[00:14:07]And it it may give us an insight in into Putin's thinking that that's what he had indicated to Xi Jinping. But there's no reflection of that yet as far as I can tell specifically on with respect to to Ukraine publicly in Europe or or North America. That interesting if he could if Putin confided that to Xi that Xi passed it on.

[00:14:31]>> And what's your assessment of Trump's statement about Taiwan after that summit with Xi Jinping? Has United States betrayed Taiwan?

[00:14:41]>> Well, I'm very worried about this idea that the $14 billion arm sale is a bargaining chip. That's a change from from 50 years of US policy of being a reliable supplier of defensive material to to Taiwan.

[00:14:58]I'm sure the Taiwan government is very worried about it. I hope we can get that corrected.

[00:15:04]Taiwan is not a problem for the United States. Taiwan is a problem for China because it shows that a free government can succeed in providing for its people and giving them a free life which the Chinese government on the mainland has never been able to accomplish. So this is this is the wrong time to show any distance between the United States and Taiwan. I think it would just encourage uh China perhaps to put a blockade around the island. It would weaken Taiwan's deterrence.

[00:15:34]Uh and uh I hope we can get that misimpression, if that's what it is, corrected quickly.

[00:15:39]>> Let's also cover US Israel war against Iran. Would you personally advise President Trump to continue his war against uh Iran to to achieve better deal?

[00:15:53]>> Well, I wish Trump had adopted the goal of regime change in Iran from the beginning because it would have uh it would have allowed people around him to advise taking a number of actions that he hasn't taken that would facilitate regime change. I think now with uh Iran effectively still demanding control of the Strait of Hormuz, that cannot be allowed to continue uh while the nuclear issue is postponed.

[00:16:17]And so, I think Trump's got a very hard decision to make. Uh he he wants out of this, I think, because he's worried about the political effects in November of the price of gasoline for American consumers, but he also knows that he will be very intensively criticized uh if he makes a bad deal that allows Iran to resume its nuclear weapons program, resume its support for international terrorism, uh and still extort the global economy by controlling the strait.

[00:16:47]>> Was the United States unprepared at the beginning of war?

[00:16:54]>> Well, I think the uh the Pentagon certainly knew the risk of uh of Iran trying to close the strait or attacking the Gulf Arab countries.

[00:17:03]Uh that's that's been something that's been I think obvious for years. Why they weren't more successful in preventing that from happen, I don't know, but uh you know, we will find out at some point and uh and somebody will be held accountable, I hope.

[00:17:18]>> Thank you, Ambassador Bolton, for your time today and insightful answers. And as usual, glory to Ukraine.

[00:17:27]>> Well, thanks again for having me. Glad to be with you.