Keith Kellogg: Now is the time to ramp up pressure on Putin
Fox News contributor Lt. Gen Keith Kellogg (Ret.) reacts to missiles fired into Poland
Fox News contributor Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg (Ret.) said Wednesday that NATO needs to ramp up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin after a missile was fired into Poland, killing two civilians.
"This is not the time to let up. … This is the time when all the NATO alliance needs to stand up and give them more equipment, more training, all the support they need to give to keep the pressure on Putin and know that they're not going to back off on him," said Kellogg on "America's Newsroom."
The former national security adviser to VP Mike Pence said by not doing so, it will display weakness to Putin.
Poland’s President Andrzej Duda said Wednesday that there is an "indication" the missile that landed in Polish territory and killed two was an "air defense missile" fired by Ukraine in response to Russian bombardment.
"There is no indication that this was an intentional attack on Poland," he said. "There are many indications that it was an air defense missile that, unfortunately, fell on Polish territory."
The Polish president’s comments were the most definitive yet issued by a NATO leader after President Biden on Tuesday told reporters that it was "unlikely" that Russia fired the missile.
Members of the Police searching the fields near the village of Przewodow in the Lublin Voivodeship, seen on November 16, 2022 in Przewodow, Poland. Two people were killed around 4pm on Tuesday afternoon in an explosion at a farm near the Polish village of Przewodow in southeastern Poland. (Photo by Artur Widak/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
"It's unlikely … that it was fired from Russia," Biden said. "But we'll see."
Kellogg said the deaths in Poland were "a direct result of egregious Russian behavior, where they fired almost 100 missiles into Ukraine against civilian infrastructure."
Kellogg said Biden "should pick up the phone" and call the head of NATO and urge a meeting to discuss a response under Article 4 of the NATO Treaty.
Kellogg said the pressure needs to be on Putin because his "military is failing badly," having just been routed from Kherson by Ukrainian forces.
"The Russian military is shattered right now. They are not a threat to NATO. … This is how you put pressure on them, by raising the political stakes on him and his generals are going to see this. Gerasimov is a senior military guy. He's not foolish. He knows that his military is failing badly. They know that they're having real problems going back on the offensive. So put the political pressure on Putin. If they don't keep the pressure up, I think it's a huge mistake because it allows Putin to recover, to reconstitute his forces," he told host Martha MacCallum.
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Kellogg said he's concerned that the Biden administration will consider the missile strike to be an "accident" and move on in an effort to avoid "antagonizing" Putin.
"That's a huge mistake," he concluded.
Fox News' Caitlin McFall contributed to this report
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