Day: December 27, 2024

Negotiations between Ukraine and the Russian Federation are a completely realistic prospect. However, for this to happen, it is necessary to stop the Russian advance, states political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko in a comment to the YouTube channel of RBC-Ukraine.

In particular, the political scientist commented on the statement made by Russian President Vladimir Putin, claiming that Moscow would continue to achieve all the objectives of the “special military operation” next year.

“This may add some realism. To some of our politicians and part of society who have started living in anticipation of the war’s end and have begun preparing for elections. The real situation is that Putin does not want a freeze in the war,” Fesenko explained.

He also noted that newly elected US President Donald Trump would most likely push for a freeze in the war in exchange for concessions, including a moratorium on Ukraine’s NATO membership.

“But Putin and Kremlin representatives show that they are not interested in a freeze; they want a complete victory over Ukraine. I think we need to prepare for a different scenario,” said the expert.

According to the political scientist, before any real negotiations can begin, Russia must be stopped on the battlefield.

“Before any real negotiations begin, and I don’t rule out that Russia will eventually agree to negotiations, but for real negotiations to start, we need to stop the Russian offensive,” emphasized Fesenko.

He stressed that this would be the key condition for any realistic negotiations on halting the fighting.

“As long as the offensive continues, Putin will have the illusion of victory. This will influence his behavior and the situation around potential peace talks,” the political scientist added.

Yesterday during his speech, Putin was somewhat confused in his statements. Specifically, the Russian President first claimed that his country allegedly seeks to end the war in Ukraine. However, he later emphasized that in 2025, Russia “will continue to achieve all the objectives of the special military operation.”

Earlier, Trump had expressed his desire to quickly end the war between Russia and Ukraine. According to his statements before the US elections, he planned to do so within the first 24 hours of his presidency.

Trump also promised to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to end the war.

The United States will announce a new military aid package for Ukraine in the coming days, stated John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, according to Fox News correspondent Lucas Tomlinson.

Kirby did not specify when exactly the US plans to announce a new military aid package, nor what specific weapons it will include.

Rumors of a new package from the US

On December 20, Reuters, citing its own sources, claimed that in the coming days, the United States plans to announce a military aid package to Ukraine with weapons worth $1.2 billion.

According to the agency, the package will include missiles for air defense systems and artillery shells.

By the way, yesterday, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the United States had increased the supply of weapons to Ukrainian defenders.

The head of state emphasized that the pace of arms transfers should increase to a level that would slow down the pace of constant Russian attacks.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken assured that President Joe Biden’s administration plans to use all the funds allocated to help Ukraine before Donald Trump’s inauguration.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has suffered defeat in Ukraine and has not achieved his goals. His attempts to weaken NATO have ended in failure, stated German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, according to t-online.

Scholz noted that the Russian President has suffered defeat in Ukraine on all fronts.

“He wanted to subjugate all of Ukraine and establish a puppet regime; he wanted to prevent further rapprochement with the EU and weaken NATO as a whole,” said the Chancellor.

Instead, according to Scholz, things have turned out differently than Putin had planned.

“And today, NATO has two new members – Sweden and Finland. They are all investing heavily in their defense capabilities, and nearly all NATO countries have met the 2% target. Ukraine is a consolidated nation on its way to joining the European Union. It has a strong army, equipped by us, heroically defending against Putin’s forces,” he emphasized.

At the same time, Scholz noted that the current task is to establish the basis for a just and sustainable peace in Ukraine.

The Chancellor also added that he was ready to call Putin again. He mentioned that during a previous conversation, he assured Putin that Europe would not stop supporting Ukraine.

“Yes, I would talk to him… made it clear to him that he could not expect that our support for Ukraine would decrease,” he said.

Talks between Scholz and Putin

In November of this year, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had a telephone conversation with Putin. These were the first such talks in two years.

Later, Scholz said that Kremlin leader Putin had not changed his mind about the war in Ukraine. But he noted that it was worth talking to him.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry reacted to the conversation between Scholz and Putin, saying that it would not help achieve a just peace. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed the opinion that Scholz’s call to Putin was a Pandora’s box.