What Russia wants and what the United States and China have prepared for Russia
It is in Putin’s best interests to pinpoint the situation that has developed today on the front, biting off something using the remaining strength and fixing this contact line as a negotiating position. And then to negotiate, saying that, look, we are withdrawing troops, but we keep the Donbas and Kherson, and this is the end of it.
For Ukraine, this means a frozen conflict even worse than it was before 24 February. Moreover, it can escalate at any moment. That is, we are signing ourselves a capitulation. And Ukraine cannot agree to such conditions, of course. This has already been stated by the President’s Office, by Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, and by many others.
