While carefully avoiding an outright rejection of US ceasefire proposals, Moscow is playing for time

Summary

Vladimir Putin responded to Ukraine’s US-backed ceasefire proposal by imposing strict conditions, including a halt to Kyiv’s military aid and mobilization, while continuing Russia’s own rearmament.

His calculated stance prolongs negotiations without outright rejecting Donald Trump’s initiative, which seeks to end the war while pressuring Ukraine.

Putin also demands Ukraine’s demilitarization, exclusion from NATO, and recognition of Russian territorial claims.

Trump, with limited leverage, may shift toward aligning with Putin’s terms. Meanwhile, Ukraine fears the ceasefire could allow Russia to regroup and intensify its offensive.

  • NoiseColor @lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    2 days ago

    Definitely not skills. But both sides in the war want to have a strong start to the negotiation. Ukraine might give up Crimea officially for NATO membership. Russia will do anything that will look like they won.

      • NoiseColor @lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        9 hours ago

        Its the start of the negotiation, everyone will take positions, but might change them. I don’t think Nato is really an option, but they might avoid this and make individual 2 party agreements between Ukraine and Nato countries that would serve as a sort of replacement for actually admitting Ukraine to Nato.

          • NoiseColor @lemmy.worldEnglish
            1·
            5 hours ago

            Without giving Ukrainians real safety guarantees, they will never stop fighting. Russia knows that. If they don’t accept safety guarantees they are saying, they want to war more.

            • alkbch@lemmy.mlEnglish
              11·
              2 hours ago

              They will never stop fighting? Ukraine can’t win a war of attrition against Russia.

                • alkbch@lemmy.mlEnglish
                  11·
                  1 hour ago

                  Even with the West’s support Ukraine has been losing ground. Imagine without the US support…

                  • NoiseColor @lemmy.worldEnglish
                    1·
                    1 hour ago

                    With limited support, while Russia has been losing an unsustainable amount of manpower to occupy less that 1% of the territory in a year. Losing US support will be really bad, but right now the frontlines have been fortified and Ukraine has built up a lot of weapons industry to produce it’s own weapons. I’m not saying it’s going to be easy without US support (even though we cannot say 100% that is really going to happen), what I’m saying is that the situation is way way way more nuanced and complicated than you are claiming.