(KYIV) – The recent visit to Kyiv by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner achieved nothing positive and was “hard to watch” after the pair had previously displayed what one former senior US commander described as “disgusting sucking up” to the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, former commanding general of US Army Europe, made the assessment during an interview with the Frontline podcast published on the 7th September. He described the two envoys as “undisciplined knuckleheads” who were transported around Moscow in Russian vehicles.
“Not only did the Russians provide the maps for this meeting, they also provided the transportation. So now you’ve got two undisciplined knuckleheads sitting in a Russian car being transported around,” General Hodges said. “I imagine every single thing that was said and talked about inside those cars was available to the Russians.”
General Hodges stated that the Trump administration “still doesn’t understand or care about the origin of the conflict.” He added that the administration’s sole objective is to claim credit for stopping the war while ensuring Russia gets what it wants.
“The disgusting sucking up to Putin that was on display by Mr Kushner and Mr Witkoff, I mean, that was hard to even watch,” General Hodges said. He noted that the pair had visited Moscow approximately eight times before making their first trip to Kyiv.
According to General Hodges, the Russians were killing innocent civilians “on the margins of this meeting at the same time.” He concluded that nothing positive would emerge from such diplomatic efforts because the Ukrainians would never accept the terms being proposed.
The general praised President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for inviting British, German, and French participation in the discussions. “I thought it was brilliant that President Zelenskyy had invited British, German, and French participation so that they could all see firsthand this nonsense,” he said.
General Hodges specifically criticised Jared Kushner’s remarks during a press conference in Kyiv, where he stated that a solution must be “win-win for all sides” from a “business perspective.” The general described this approach as “exceptionally naive and very bad taste.”
He also questioned the absence of Secretary of State Marco Rubio from the process. “Where is the secretary of state, Mr Rubio? He is absolutely AWOL. He has outsourced this to the two real estate business partners of the president,” General Hodges said.
The general expressed concern about the security implications of the visit. He noted that the contents of the envoys’ phones would have been “hoovered up” by Russian intelligence services during their time in Moscow.
On the broader conflict, General Hodges stated that Ukraine’s path to victory lies in destroying Russia’s oil and gas infrastructure. “Making it so that Russia just cannot sustain it. The income that Russia gets from India and China and Turkey and other countries who buy Russian oil and gas, if they can’t export it, it becomes very, very difficult,” he said.
The Institute for the Study of War has published figures suggesting that if Russia continued its current rate of advance, it would not capture the entirety of Donetsk Oblast until the 1st October 2032.
General Hodges also addressed the state of European defence. He acknowledged significant increases in defence spending across most countries but questioned whether there was a genuine sense of urgency. He cited the recent drone incident at Leipzig airport, where an explosive carrying device was found near a Ukrainian transport aircraft loaded with ammunition.
The general welcomed Germany’s decision to shut down the Russia House in Berlin, describing it as a disinformation and spy centre. He noted that the closure of the Russian consulate in Bonn was “way overdue.”
On the United Kingdom, General Hodges said the sense of urgency was lacking. He expressed concern about reports that no Royal Navy submarine was currently underway. “The quality of women and men in uniform is still there. The intelligence services are as good as any in the world. But it’s just not enough,” he said.
The interview was conducted by Philip Ingram for Frontline, produced by Times Radio.
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