Russia on Monday launched its largest drone and missile strike to date against Ukraine, escalating the conflict and pushing fragile peace talks further out of reach.

U.S. and other Western nations are threatening further sanctions against Russia to sqeeze the economy, yet former deputy national security adviser KT McFarland told Newsmax on Tuesday that “the Russian people are behind [Russian President Vladimir] Putin in what he’s doing in Ukraine.“

“Putin has spent the last several years really focusing on telling his people about Russian nationalism and be a great patriot and suffer for Russia,” McFarland said on “National Report.” “Eight years ago, even four years ago, the public opinion polls in Russia said that most of the Russians were concerned about the economy and their standard of living.

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