Washington is quickly being taught what Kyiv already knows. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine is being fought by an ‘Axis of Evil.’ Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Chechnya – and yes, even the Houthis – are allies.
Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, admitted as much on Sunday when, during a telephone call with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he demanded an “immediate cessation of the use of force and the importance for all sides to engage in political dialogue” concerning ongoing US airstrikes in Yemen.
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Earlier Sunday morning, Rubio told CBS News’ Face the Nation: “There’s no way the... Houthis would have the ability to do this kind of thing unless they had support from Iran.” Left unspoken by Rubio is that there is no way Iran could support the Houthis without the tacit approval of Putin and Lavrov.
Team Trump needs to come to an immediate realization that they are all connected: Russia, Iran and the Houthis. Houthi rebels are just one of three proxies Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps funds, equips, trains, and directs to exert influence throughout the region – the other two being Hezbollah and Hamas.
None of this is new. Last September, Reuters reported that “Iran brokered ongoing secret talks between Russia and Yemen’s Houthi rebels to transfer anti-ship missiles to the militant group.” The same Russian missiles that are now being used to target the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and other US naval assets operating in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
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This is the same Iranian regime that in return equips the Kremlin with Fath 360 close-range ballistic missiles and Mohajer-6 and Shahed series drones for use to target and kill Ukrainian civilians, destroy cultural sites, bomb hospitals, and destroy schools, markets, shelters and critical energy infrastructure.
That is genocide by any other name. Putin is the murderer. Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his regime in Tehran are Russia’s co-conspirators.
Despite US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s warning for the Houthis to “back off,” that is not likely in the near future. By Sunday evening, the Houthis responded to Hegseth by firing 18 ballistic and cruise missiles at the USS Harry S Truman and its carrier strike group. They, along with a Houthi drone, all missed.
It is not coincidental that as Trump’s ceasefire push in Ukraine gained momentum that the Houthis announced they were going to resume attacks.
Houthi military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree later stated, “The Yemeni Armed Forces will not hesitate to target all American warships in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea in retaliation for the aggression against our country.” Nor is Iran likely to stop the Houthis anytime soon. Not when Lavrov is demanding the US stop first.
Team Trump must take note here. Putin is simply condition-setting ahead of any ceasefire negotiations in Ukraine. The Houthis are simply one more card Lavrov and Putin are trying to play against the White House.
It is not coincidental that as Trump’s ceasefire push in Ukraine gained momentum that the Houthis announced they were going to “resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red and Arabian seas, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden.” This flare-up which prompted a preemptive US response was likely hatched between Russia, Iran and the Houthis.
Putin’s reliance on his Mideast “Axis of Evil” partners is nothing new. He likely orchestrated Hamas’ heinous attack against Israel on Oct. 7 as a diversion to his counteroffensive that began two days later in Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine.
Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff – now also apparently his de facto envoy to Russia – must understand he is getting played by Putin who is expanding the chessboard to include Iran and the Houthis. After returning from a meeting with Putin in Moscow to discuss Trump’s ceasefire proposal in Ukraine, Witkoff declared, “We made a lot of progress in that meeting.”
Putin made more progress. And that was before Witkoff ever arrived at the Kremlin to begin discussions.
For example, while the results of the meeting are still closely held, one thing is for certain. Trump’s Special Envoy to the Ukraine-Russia War, retired US Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, is no longer part of the White House’s negotiation team. At the “request” of the Kremlin, Trump obliged and pulled him.
NBC News reported that former Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Fedorov said Kellogg was “not the person with whom Russia will negotiate with because his position on the talks was to freeze the front line in Ukraine.” Not likely.
Moscow feared his perspective as a former military commander versus the narrow business perspective Witkoff brings to the table. Putin does not want a US military advisor present. His intent remains on setting conditions for Ukraine’s capitulation.
Essentially, it is Putin’s way or the highway.
Putin’s penultimate end goal – Ukraine’s complete destruction as a sovereign nation – is reinforced daily by Lavrov’s repeated demands. He insists on a neutral post-war Ukraine. He demands that there can be no pathway to Ukrainian NATO membership. And Lavrov keeps insisting that any future European or NATO peacekeeping troops in Ukraine would be tantamount to being at war with Russia.
Essentially, it is Putin’s way or the highway. Unarmed civilian monitors – as Lavrov is demanding – will not safeguard Ukraine’s future security. Quite to the contrary, it would likely only guarantee a third Russian invasion.
Meanwhile, Kellogg has since been relegated to the position of special envoy to Ukraine. His new role is likely to continue exerting pressure on Zelensky for concessions to Russia in order to achieve a “peace” deal.
This is the same Kellogg who glibly told reporters last week that Ukraine brought the pause in US intelligence sharing “on themselves,” adding, “it’s sort of like hitting a mule with a two-by-four across the nose… got their attention.”
Trump is scheduled to speak with Putin on Tuesday. The outcome remains to be seen. The President’s National Security Advisor Mike Waltz assures us the White House “knows who we’re dealing with.” Many in the United States, Europe, and Ukraine do not share his point of view and are not so sure.
Specifically, does Trump realize Putin is using the Houthis to gain even more concessions at Ukraine’s expense from the White House. The dots are all there to be connected but is Team Trump connecting them?
Thus far, Team Trump keeps conceding to Putin. Removing Kellogg from the negotiation team. Joining Russia to vote against a UN General Assembly resolution condemning Russia’s war against Ukraine. Rejecting a Canadian G7 proposal to establish a task force to monitor sanctions breaches by Russian “shadow fleets.”
Trump has also echoed Russian demands for Ukrainian elections. Ceased offensive US cyber activities against Moscow. Paused intelligence-sharing with Kyiv. Blocked Ukrainian access to satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies and announced he was considering revoking temporary protections for thousands of Ukrainian refugees in the US.
The ill-advised “intelligence and munitions pause” provided Russia a window of opportunity to inflict significant damage to military equipment and casualties on Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region – leading to the loss of Sudzha. It also contributed to the deaths of civilians targeted yet again by Russian ballistic missiles and drones, giving credence to “the reality of the situation on the ground.”
Now Trump threatens to leave NATO altogether. Music to the Kremlin’s ears.
Worst of all, it appears as though the US is pushing Ukraine to cede terrain to Russia. In exchange for unspecified territorial concessions, Waltz stated that Ukraine will receive “unspecified security guarantees.” He also said that the US is considering “the reality of the situation on the ground,” repeating an oft-spoken Russian narrative that any negotiations must consider the “realities on the ground.”
None of this should be acceptable to Ukraine. This is a complete 180-degree turn from just three short years ago when Putin’s “special military operation” forged the NATO countries closer together – united again by a common enemy – and resulted in the addition of Finland and Sweden to the defensive alliance.
Now Hungary and Slovakia are leaning towards Russia, while Trump threatens to withhold support to countries not meeting their 2% GDP commitments – even threatening to leave NATO altogether. All music to the Kremlin’s ears.
Consequently, Putin likely sees NATO as vulnerable and seeks to further divide the alliance. And he is using his “Axis of Evil” alliance to pull it off.
Washington must wake up. The longer Putin is permitted to hang around, the more his FSB is allowed to poison the waters with disinformation, misinformation, and flat-out lies. The US and NATO are losing the information war while Ukraine suffers the consequences – and now, the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe have gone silent.
Team Trump appears to simply want the shooting to stop so business deals can resume. Ukraine’s continued resistance stands in the way. War crimes and restitution will simply be swept under the rug in this ill-advised 2025 Russian Reset.
The President must enter Tuesday’s phone call with more than just a business transaction in mind. Stopping the killing – as Waltz and Rubio tell us – depends on Russia. The priority is to get them to stop attacking Ukraine.
Trump must apply maximum pressure on Putin similar to what he is doing to Houthi rebels in Yemen and Iran. Trump must see through Putin’s Houthi distraction and recognize he is negotiating against Russia’s “Axis of Evil.” Putin’s only remaining leverage is the threat of World War III, which arguably, is already here.
Team Trump should not fall for it. Trump holds all of the winning cards and Putin, Lavrov and their “Axis of Evil” partners know it.
The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.
Copyright 2025. Jonathan E. Sweet and Mark C. Toth. All rights reserved.
Col. (Ret.) Jonathan E. Sweet served 30 years as an Army intelligence officer. Mark Toth writes on national security and foreign policy.
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