Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
hAnd let the show go on. donald trump will give the impression of freedom from kremlinThreatened to impose sanctions on Russian fuel importers and murmured insults, but, in the end, Vladimir Putin has pulled the puppet strings tightly, and the US President is dancing the Moscow dance again.
It’s a desperate but effective move moscow To dominate the terms of discussion on a war that Russia cannot win.
according to a Information about 28-point plan for peace in Ukraine was given to the media on Wednesday.The US and Russia have agreed that Kiev should give up vast swathes of territory in the country’s east, halve its military, abandon a constitutionally mandated NATO membership application, and give up any weapons that could be used to defend its future.
Quickly rejected by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the plan is similar to past Russia-centric US plans, and takes no account of Putin’s persistent refusal to accept Ukraine’s offer of an immediate ceasefire.
It is based on the completely false premise that Ukraine cannot win its defensive war against Russia; That sooner or later concessions are inevitable.
Trump has enthusiastically contributed to the Russian war effort by completely cutting off all aid to Ukraine, except intelligence assistance. This means that Ukraine is not winning. But neither is Russia.
Kiev is currently being bombed at night as part of a Russian campaign to cripple Ukraine’s energy sector and make the country uninhabitable in winter for its civilian population. Ukraine is on the backfoot strategically in Pokrovsk, but further north in Kupyansk, the tide of war at the local level is running its course.
Russia’s conquest of Ukraine could take a century and millions of lives. Russia has already suffered more than a million dead and injured since 2022.
NATO’s European and Canadian members have stepped in to fill the gap in US funding for Ukraine amounting to around €250bn (£220m). Had the US not cut off arms supplies, Ukraine would have been in a better position, and perhaps able to break the backbone of Russia’s military and retreat in the same manner that Moscow’s forces did in the summer of 2022. But Trump undermined Ukraine and then demanded that Kiev accept Russian terms for a ceasefire or long-term peace. He tried to intimidate Zelensky in the Oval Office by saying he had no cards to play.
Ukraine is currently battling a corruption scandal involving the alleged theft of $100 million (£76 million) from its state energy company. Two ministers have been removed from office, while other figures close to Zelensky have fled the country.
Zelensky has also launched a recruitment campaign in Ukraine. Unofficial estimates circulating in the Kiev parliament put draft dodgers outnumbering soldiers by one million. In addition, the decision to allow youth aged 18 to 22 to leave Ukraine has led to the exodus of approximately 100,000 war-torn men. The minimum age for constables is 25 years.
Still, Ukraine is lining up against Russia.
There is a shortage of manpower in Ukraine. Russia, which currently has no shortage of soldiers as frontline soldiers are getting $3,000 per month, has huge manpower. But Ukraine has moved forward with innovation and inspiration. Drone warfare has reduced Russia’s advantage in terms of sheer military numbers. But it’s touch and go.
This is an existential war for Ukraine. Stalin killed seven million Ukrainians in the Holodomor famine in the early 1930s. Two other famines in the 20th century were caused by the Soviet regime, which also outlawed the Ukrainian language, murdered poets, and rewrote history. It is no surprise that the term “genocide” was coined in Lviv, western Ukraine, in the 1940s.
Putin has concentrated Russia’s entire economy into trying to conquer Ukraine.
The Center for European Policy Analysis estimates that Russia is spending about 30 percent of its federal funds on the war. Growth in Russia has slowed to about 1.5 percent, although inflation has increased, partly due to higher wages in war-related industries, where workers are in shortage.
Putin knows that war is not sustainable in the long term. In the short and medium term, the war economy fueled by oil revenues centralizes his power. But he needs to win. And Ukraine is rapidly developing the capability to attack sites inside Russia, which brings war to the homeland and could undermine support for a military adventure next door.
In the short term, Putin would be happy to stop the fighting going on today and take control of the defenses Ukraine has built behind a “kill zone” of debris and terror along an 800-mile front.
It would be a victory that would relieve pressure on the Kremlin while Russia would regroup and prepare for another round of victories at a time of its choosing.
A European ceasefire plan is taking shape. This is not a proposal for long-term peace, and its entire premise is the future security of Ukraine from Russian attacks. But at its core is an assumption, rejected by Kiev, that Ukraine would have to make some concessions to Moscow and give up the occupied territories forever.
Therefore, the parameters of this discussion are still set by Putin and his puppets in the White House and in far-right movements across Europe.
Better terms would focus on helping Ukraine win and cutting those ties.