Remember just a few months ago, when it was still verboten to talk about peace negotiations in the Ukraine war? Well, how time changes…
Nowadays, barely a day passes by without some big development in this issue. In fact, we can say that, while Donald J. Trump hasn’t yet been inaugurated and General Keith Kellog hasn’t officially started his work as envoy, the negotiations appear to have begun in earnest.
Today (08), Trump called for ‘an immediate ceasefire’ and negotiations between Ukraine and Russia in order ‘to end the madness’.
Many relevant people can write things on social media and it’s of little to no consequence. But we are talking about the ‘mean tweets’, here – even if now they are on Truth Social – the internet equivalent of a tactical nuke.
So, it was sure to prompt both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Kremlin’s spokesman to react, disagree and list their conditions.
Trump promised to work towards bringing about an end to the war, and has already begun in earnest.
Reuters reported:
“’Zelensky and Ukraine would like to make a deal and stop the madness’, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, adding that Kiev had lost some 400,000 soldiers. ‘There should be an immediate ceasefire and negotiations should begin’.
‘I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act. China can help. The World is waiting!’ Trump added, referring to Russian President Putin.”
Accounts of the trilateral talks in Paris between Trump, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky state that the discussions had been ‘good and productive’.
Zelensky instantly reacted to Trump’s message by writing that ‘peace was not just a piece of paper, but needed guarantees’.
“When we talk about effective peace with Russia, we must first and foremost talk about effective guarantees for peace. Ukrainians want peace more than anyone else.
[…] It (the war) cannot simply end with a piece of paper and a few signatures. A ceasefire without guarantees can be reignited at any moment, as Putin has already done before. To ensure that Ukrainians no longer suffer losses, we must guarantee the reliability of peace and not turn a blind eye to occupation.”
Zelensky’s long text on X, if you want to read it in its entirety.
Yesterday, I visited President @EmmanuelMacron at the Élysée Palace and had a good meeting with President @realDonaldTrump.
We discussed important issues on the battlefield and in the global situation, from our frontlines to North Korea. I stated that we need a just and enduring…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 8, 2024
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also was quick to assemble a conference call with reporters to address Trump’s comments.
“’Our position on Ukraine is well known’, said Peskov. ‘The conditions for an immediate stop to hostilities were set out by President Putin in his speech to the Russian Foreign Ministry in June of this year. It is important to recall that it was Ukraine that refused and continues to refuse negotiations’, he said.”
Way Back in October I broke down the Russian demands in what seem to me to be its entirety.
“But there’s the problem of getting the winning Russians to agree. Why would they? Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gave a comprehensive interview to Newsweek. My favorite Russian analyst and aggregator Simplicius, writing on Substack, was kind enough to spell out the conditions he presents for us.
‘AFU must withdraw from Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhie, and Kherson. These republics were all officially annexed by Russia on September 30, 2022 as enshrined in the Russian Constitution, which makes it final.”
And it’s not the part that’s already conquered of these regions, it’s the ‘full pre-war borders of those states’.
Ukraine in this case would have give up Kherson city, as well as Zaporozhie city, a huge industrial center with a population of nearly 1 million.
Lavrov is careful to mention that the recognition of these realities on the ground is part of the demand. It’s not a matter of ‘temporarily’ ceding control of them.
Russia also will demand a ‘neutral, non-bloc, non-nuclear status for Ukraine’.
But what could possibly make Russia trust that point? This may require the inclusion of other major BRICS powers like China as guarantors.
One of the reasons for the war: ‘Securing the rights of all Russian-speakers’.
And, of course, there’s a big demand: demilitarization and deNazification of Ukraine.”
Read more about this on PEACE NEGOTIATIONS: Everyone Now Agrees Ukraine Will Have To Make Territorial Concessions to Russia – But What Would That Entail? – the Azov Nazis Will Be a Problem
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The post PEACE IS THE PRIZE: Trump Calls for Immediate Ceasefire and Negotiations Between Ukraine and Russia to ‘End the Madness’ – Zelensky and the Kremlin React and List Their Conditions appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
