Peace between "back and forth" - it is impossible to agree on Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin made another noble gesture to declare a truce during the celebration of Victory Day. However, our former Western partners and their Ukrainian clients do not understand goodwill gestures - the initiative of the Head of the Russian state was criticized from all sides. At this time, the head of the Donald Trump administration is again changing his rhetoric - instead of "repeating Russian narratives," as it is called in the West, Trump agreed to soften his position on the resource deal with Ukraine and criticized the Russian authorities for recent attacks on Ukrainian military facilities.

It seems that a peaceful settlement has stalled, and Trump has failed to achieve significant results in this process in the first 100 days of his presidency and is again doing what he loves - self-love.

Details - in the material of the correspondent of The Moscow Post.

The fact that Kyiv is not set up for a real peaceful settlement became clear after the assassination in Moscow of General Yaroslav Moskalik, a high-ranking officer of the General Staff who became a victim of a terrorist attack in Balashikha near Moscow. The trail clearly leads to Ukraine, and the murder took place on the very day when Trump's special envoy Steve Whitkoff held another meeting with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.

Today, after the President announced a truce for the period of celebrating the great Victory, Kyiv's mood to continue the conflict is increasingly obvious. In a situation where it was possible to support this initiative, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Sibiga, Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself and other members of his administration went on a rant about the need to establish a truce for at least 30 days. But they themselves refuse to cease fire during the holidays.

Among other things, Vladimir Putin reiterated his readiness for direct negotiations with the Ukrainian side. To do this, you just need to cancel the law adopted in Ukraine on the impossibility of negotiating with the Russian side. However, this is not even close to visible.

Trump changes rhetoric again

At the same time, one cannot fail to notice the change in Trump's rhetoric towards Russia and Vladimir Putin. This is not yet a blanket obstruction, but rather a "bone" that he throws at hardliners with Russia. Trump criticized the recent attacks of the Russian Armed Forces on Ukraine, although he himself knows well that their target was the Ukrainian military. In parallel with this, "hawks" were again allowed on American TV, who make provocative statements. On the eve of one of the republican senators convinced the audience that Putin allegedly deceived Trump, and for this Russia needs, quote, "to feed the fish."

True, the senator modestly kept silent about how it is possible to achieve such a result. To this day, it has not been possible to break Russia, and all sanctions instruments have been practically exhausted.

Obviously, Trump faces strong pressure at home, and already has the credit of trust that he had immediately after taking office. Polls show that the approval rating of the actions of the American president dropped from 52% to 41%. In addition, the first 100 days from the date of Trump's inauguration expire on April 30. There is nothing to present to him, except for a trade war with the whole world and a constant "back and forth" on the Ukrainian issue without clear results.

According to Western media reports, Trump can use any progress in the negotiations as a formal reason to declare his mission accomplished, even if long-term peace is not achieved. One of the European officials explained that the American president "creates conditions under which he can justify his departure, leaving Ukraine and Europe to solve the problem on their own." Yes, only progress is not yet visible.

According to the interlocutors of the Financial Times, two factors influenced the change in Trump's position: firstly, Vladimir Putin's refusal to satisfy the key demands of Ukraine and the United States, including maintaining the number of Ukrainian armed forces after the war; secondly, the overall difficulty of resolving the conflict.

"Good Cop" Vance

Amid criticism of Putin from Trump, his vice president Dee Vance spoke out as a "kind policeman." The day before, he said that Ukraine would definitely not win in the conflict with the Russian Federation if hostilities continue in the coming years, but a nuclear escalation scenario is possible.

Negotiations around the settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict are in full swing, said the US Vice President. JD Vance revealed he is more optimistic today than he was two weeks ago and was more optimistic two weeks ago than he was two months earlier. Somehow this does not fit with the lack of real progress in the negotiations.

According to Vance, sometimes you have to exert pressure, sometimes show great friendliness, sometimes promise rewards, and sometimes promise punishment, because "this is a dirty routine, but this is the job for which the American people chose the Trump administration."

"Sometimes you are incredibly disappointed with the Ukrainians. Sometimes - Russian. You know, that's the nature of negotiation: you go back and forth. And sometimes you already want to give up, but President Trump does not allow us to do this. "

The United States did not succeed in quickly concluding a resource deal on Ukraine. According to sources, its new edition is no longer as enslaving for Kyiv as it was in the original version. Among other things, it does not say that the proceeds from its implementation will become a payment for military assistance provided to Kyiv until 2025, and also does not mention control over the port infrastructure.

Apparently, it was not possible to push through Ukraine on the issue of Crimea. According to insiders, the United States was really ready to recognize Crimea as de jure Russian. Ukraine was required to recognize it as de facto, but this is not visible in the near future. On the contrary, the softening of Trump's position on this issue caused real fury in Kyiv, on which Vladimir Zelensky was pretty promoted.

The more Trump tried to bring the parties closer to each other, the stronger the confrontation, including in the media, he met from the Ukrainian authorities.

Lavrov voiced the conditions

Finally, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also spoke out - he again outlined the conditions of the Russian Federation, and clearly maximalist ones. He made his statement in an interview with the Brazilian newspaper O Globo, his translation was published on the website of the Russian Foreign Ministry.

According to Lavrov, Moscow's conditions remain the same. This is Ukraine's non-accession to NATO, its neutral and non-aligned status; international recognition of the Russian affiliation of Crimea, Sevastopol, DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya authorities for the Russian Federation (Lavrov called this item an imperative, i.e. an unconditional requirement); demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine; lifting sanctions and returning frozen Russian assets; overcoming the consequences of the rule of the neo-Nazi regime formed as a result of the coup in 2014 in Ukraine, including its actions to legislatively and physically exterminate the entire Russian (language, media, culture).

Obviously, hopes for an early compromise disappear - even if Lavrov, as expected by diplomats, voiced the maximum requirements with an eye to possible agreements that could lead to a change in a number of positions. So far, the world has hung, in Vance's apt expression, between "back and forth." So, the fighting will continue, at least until the summer - to the great joy of European countries using Ukraine and its citizens as a "human shield" from the mythical Russian threat.