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Russia President, Vladmir Putin is playing President Donald Trump regarding the war in Ukraine, according to retired U.S. Army lieutenant general Herbert Raymond McMaster.

McMaster, known for his roles in the Gulf War, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom, served as Trump’s National Security Advisor from 2017 to 2018.

Speaking on CBS Mornings as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine clocked three years, McMaster criticized Trump’s recent statements, including the claim that Ukraine started the war.

The recipient of several military awards said everyone should be shocked by the President’s utterances, saying he has “reframed the war in a way that’s just not true”.

“I think it is evident that Vladmir Putin is playing him,” McMaster declared, adding, “He (Trump) would have this long conversation with Putin.”

The retired General said it struck him that U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were overseas when the President uttered the controversial comments.

He said Putin “plays Trump with the prospects of a big deal…you know that he could be the peacemaker. He gives him his warped version of history.”

“That’s what you heard from Donald Trump,” McMaster remarked. “Those were all the Kremlin’s talking points that you heard him roll out.”

Responding to Gayle King’s question on Putin’s “great joy and pride in manipulating Trump” as contained in McMaster’s book, the former NSA reaffirmed his observation.

McMaster stated that the Kremlin has been studying Trump “very closely” and appears to use “his own character and personality against him.”

“You can’t go wrong with flattery with President Trump,” he continued, “so you hear Putin always praising President Trump.”

McMaster added that Putin gives the impression that Trump can bring peace, “but this would be a false peace based on appeasement.”

Asked if he thinks Putin truly wants peace, the Army veteran said Putin wants to dominate Ukraine and had wanted to do so from the time he assumed power.

McMaster said it’s important to look at the pattern of Russia’s aggression since Putin came into office 25 years ago, citing a range of actions against Europe.

The author pointed out that what is going on in Ukraine “is matched by a shadow war across Europe..cutting undersea cables, burning warehouses, incendiary bombs on aircraft.”

“Putin’s already annexed Belarus, he’s turned elections in Romania, you can say in Slovakia, he’s subverting Georgia, Moldova. He’s not going to stop until he is stopped.”

McMaster, however, believes that even if America withdraws its support, NATO alone can deal with Russia, saying the defense budgets of member-states are enough to fund Ukraine.