No. of Recommendations: 3
Putin will accept our offer of total surrender if and only if we make reparations for the cost of the bombs he was forced to drop on schools, hospitals and homes.
But the master deal-maker will surely get Putin to back off that demand! </snark>
A lot of uncertainty right now. Europe is trying to step-up support for Ukraine, so Zelensky may not be forced to take a deal where they give up all their lost territory (plus a bit more...I think Russia wants the remaining Donbas that they don't already occupy), with no security assurances (which mean nothing without NATO membership).
He's certainly under no obligation to accept a truce that his government had no part in negotiating. He doesn't show any sign of giving up, even without US support. Which, for the record, is not us forcing him to do anything. I suspect he realizes that Russia can't continue this for much longer, and is trying to hold out long enough that Putin will have to give up something. Though, without US support, he will be in a worse position to demand a withdrawal from all occupied territories. If Putin see that the levels of support are high, he would know he would have to give up some stuff to make this end. Can Europe step it up in our absence? I hope for Ukraine's sake that they can.
