Cessation of hostilities contingent upon halting of weapons shipments, as stated by the Kremlin.
Get ready for a game of cat and mouse, folks! Moscow's been blasting Ukraine, but suddenly they're all about peace, huh? They're demanding a halt to arms deliveries to Kyiv before even considering a 30-day ceasefire. What a crock, right?
Dmitri Peskov, Kremlin spokesman, has spilled the beans to ABC this morning. He claims Ukraine would use the ceasefire to keep mobilizing troops, training new personnel, and giving their fighters a break. So, why should we give Ukraine such an advantage, amirite?
You'd think Peskov would also mention that Russia would benefit from a similar break, but nope. He did, however, hint at another reason for their reluctance: they're making progress in their offensive in Ukraine and hold the initiative.
Peskov also tossed around the pie-in-the-sky hope that trump would keep spinnin' his magic on Ukraine to pressure Kyiv for negotiations. He accused Kyiv of wanting to avoid negotiations, but both sides have been flinging that accusation back and forth like a hot potato.
Zelenskyy's got a cadre of bigwigs on his side, though. Merkel, Macron, Starmer, and Co. are visiting Ukraine, backing Zelenskyy's call for a 30-day ceasefire, and expressing their readiness to support peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. The ball's in Moscow's court, y'all.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is on board, too. She supports the call for a 30-day unconditional ceasefire and plans to keep a grip on Moscow with strong pressure and additional sanctions, if necessary.
Putin recently ordered a ceasefire for Easter and the 80th anniversary of WWII's end. But, the current three-day truce is nearing its end. The warring parties have accused each other of violating the truce in the past two days, which indicates a return to the usual games.
Sources: ntv.de, gho/dpa
So, what's the dealio here? You can bet your last dollar that Russia's strategic goal is to prevent Ukraine from beefing up its military with Western support. They view this support as the key factor prolonging the conflict and enabling Ukrainian resistance. Stopping the arms deliveries is seen as crucial to weaken Ukraine's defense capabilities and create a more advantageous negotiating position for Russia.
And while Russia is playing tough guy, they're stepping up their offensive operations with new tactics, which suggests they ain't planning on halting their advance anytime soon. Stay tuned, folks, because this story's far from over.
- Ukraine Attack
- Russia
- Wars and Conflicts
- Vladimir Putin
- War Crimes
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[1] Correlates of War - Russia and Ukraine[2] Conflict Trends - Russia and Ukraine
- The European Parliament has also expressed its concern at the recent events in Ukraine, calling for a 30-day ceasefire and voicing readiness to support peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
- Dmitri Peskov, Kremlin spokesman, said Ukraine would use a ceasefire to keep mobilizing troops, training new personnel, and giving their fighters a break, making Russia reluctant to agree to it.
- Stopping arms deliveries to Ukraine is seen as crucial by Russia to weaken Ukraine's defense capabilities and create a more advantageous negotiating position, as they aim to prevent Ukraine from beefing up its military with Western support.
- General news outlets report that the warring parties have accused each other of violating the temporary truces in the past two days, indicating a return to the usual games, despite Putin's recent call for a ceasefire for Easter and the 80th anniversary of WWII's end.
