This will surely help the peace talks... Zelensky isn't very bright, is he?

'Ukraine Will Not Recognize Any Territory Occupied By Russia': Zelensky

Update(1210ET): On Wednesday President Zelensky shut the door on territorial concessions, awkwardly at a moment Ukraine has just agreed to a US plan for a 30-day ceasefire intended to pave the way for extended peace negotiations. An initial statement from the Kremlin said that Putin likely to eventually agree to truce but with own terms as Moscow "studies" the Trump-sponsored proposal hammered out during the Tuesday Jeddah talks.

"We are fighting for our independence. Therefore, we will not recognize any occupied territories as Russia's. This is a fact," Zelensky said in the fresh comments.

"Our people have fought for this, our heroes died. How many injured, how many passed. No one will forget about it... This is the most important red line. We will not let anyone forget about this crime against Ukraine."

But Russia's red line in any near-future negotiations will be to demand recognition of the Russian Federations sovereign control over the four easter territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions - which President Putin has previously referred to as "our citizens forever."

As for Zelensky's new proclamation that he won't cede territory, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters just after the Ukraine-US talks in Saudi Arabia that discussions with Kiev's delegations included "territorial concessions" as part of a negotiated settlement. The suggestion from the US side is that Ukraine showed openness and willingness on this question. So either the two allies can't get on the same age (which is no surprise), or else Zelensky is trying to tank these negotiation efforts before they ever get off the ground, also as the White House has pressed Kiev to hold new presidential elections.

Fresh comments from Zelensky asserting Ukraine will NOT recognize any territory occupied by Russia...

https://www.zerohedge.com/geop...field-gains-meantime

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
...or else Zelensky is trying to tank these negotiation efforts before they ever get off the ground, also as the White House has pressed Kiev to hold new presidential elections.

Well, given the whole of the situation, I think it's this. Basically, if Ukrainians want the war to end, they need to remove this clown.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
This will surely help the peace talks... Zelensky isn't very bright, is he?

......
https://www.zerohedge.com/geop...field-gains-meantime

Sadly, that actually made me laugh.

If little z’s wife has an IQ that is room temperature or higher, she has to be very nervous. Some couples start sleeping in different beds. I’d think that for her, sleeping in a different city might be prudent.

I hope that he either figures things out quickly or gets taken out quickly to minimize the loss of his citizens’ lives.

From Reuters:

Ukraine set to lose Kursk pocket, its foothold inside Russia
By Mark Trevelyan March 12, 2025 3:40 PM

https://archive.ph/HW1vi

https://www.reuters.com/world/...e-russia-2025-03-12/

Russia claims capture of five more villages

Russian troops fly flag in centre of Sudzha

Accounts on both sides say Ukrainian troops are withdrawing

March 12 (Reuters) - Ukrainian troops appeared on the point of losing their hard-won foothold inside Russia's Kursk region on Wednesday as Moscow claimed further advances there and military bloggers on both sides said Kyiv's forces were withdrawing.

Ukraine sprang one of the biggest shocks of the war on August 6 last year by storming across the border and grabbing a chunk of land inside Russia, boosting citizens' morale and gaining a potential bargaining chip.

But after clinging for more than seven months to a gradually shrinking area, Ukraine has seen its position worsen sharply in the past week.

Russia's defence ministry on Wednesday reported the capture of five more villages, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that "the dynamics are good".

Reuters was able to verify video published by Russian bloggers and state media showing troops standing with a Russian tricolour flag on a square in the centre of Sudzha, a town near the Ukrainian border on a highway used by Ukraine as a supply route.

Deep State, an authoritative Ukrainian site that charts the frontlines of the war, updated its battlefield map to show Ukrainian forces were no longer in control of Sudzha. However, it said fighting was continuing on the outskirts.
A Ukrainian military spokesperson declined to comment.

Ukraine's top commander denied this week that his forces were being encircled, but said they were taking up better defensive positions.
Skadovskyi Defender, a Ukrainian military blogger, posted on Telegram: "Ukraine's Armed Forces are leaving Kursk. There will be no Ukrainian soldier there by Friday."

The same channel said, however, that Ukraine was continuing to conduct heavy strikes on Sudzha.
The Russian governor of the region said four civilian employees of a feed mill had been killed northeast of Sudzha on Wednesday.
Reuters could not verify the accounts from either side because of reporting restrictions.

Independent Russian analyst Ruslan Leviev said the Ukrainian incursion was drawing to a close.

"Maybe this story will end today. Maybe they will try to hold the border villages for another couple of days. But overall, the story of the Kursk bridgehead is coming to an end, and Ukrainian troops are leaving," he told Dozhd TV.

Ukraine agreed on Tuesday to a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in the war, which has dragged on for more than three years. The Kremlin said it needed to be briefed by the U.S. side before it would comment on whether the ceasefire terms were acceptable.

Zelensky really sounds like he still believes that Biden is in charge here.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
Lord of War

Nicolas Cage? Pretty good flick.

Putin Rejects US Temporary Ceasefire Plan, Appears In Military Fatigues

Russia has rejected the US-proposed 30-day ceasefire which came out of the Jeddah meeting with Ukraine, describing that it would only allow Ukrainian forces to regroup.

"This is nothing other than a temporary time-out for Ukrainian soldiers, nothing more. Our goal is a long-term peaceful resolution," Yuri Ushakov, a senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, told Russian state television. "Our goal is a long-term peaceful settlement that takes into account the legitimate interests of our country and our well-known concerns. It seems to me that no one needs any steps that (merely) imitate peaceful actions in this situation," he said. He further expressed that it would "give nothing" to Russia.

This was the first official public response on the issue from the Kremlin, after it said Wednesday it was "studying" the proposal. President Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is currently en route to Moscow to discuss the temporary truce proposal.

Ushakov says he has communicated Moscow's rejection of the 30-day ceasefire plan to Trump's national security adviser Mike Waltz.

None of this comes as a great surprise, given not only that Russian forces have the clear battlefield momentum and upper-hand, but back in January President Putin explained why he would never settle for any ceasefire that's temporary.

He had said at the time, "The goal should not be a short truce, not some kind of respite for regrouping forces and rearmament with the aim of subsequently continuing the conflict, but a long-term peace based on respect for the legitimate interests of all people, all nations living in this region."

The Russian leader had on Wednesday visited Kursk region for the first time since Ukraine's incursion there and holding of territory which began in August.

"Our immediate goal is as soon as possible to conclusively destroy the enemy entrenched on the territory of Kursk region," Putin said.

And the optics and symbolism were not missed on Russia's enemies, as Putin was dressed in military fatigues as he addressed top generals, which is a rarity.

President Trump has been warning of what could happen if Moscow doesn't come the negotiating table. "I can do things financially that would be very bad for Russia," Trump said earlier. "I don't want to do that because I want to get peace. I want to see peace and we'll see. But in a financial sense, yeah, we could do things very bad for Russia. It would be devastating for Russia."

According to the latest from Riyadh, Ukraine says it is ready for a 30 day cease fire. If this is what Washington “extracted” from the Ukrainians, it is operationally meaningless. With Russia on the brink of winning in Kursk and elsewhere, the Russians won’t accept any such deal. If it is a ruse to allow the US to resume arms shipments to Ukraine, knowing Russia will reject it, the so-called peace initiative is a dead letter.

Meanwhile RT has featured the explanation and more context to Russia's rejection by political analyst Sergey Markov as follows...

Reasons why Russia to refuse a ceasefire (and especially anything deemed temporary):

1. A ceasefire would be exploited by the West and Ukraine to halt the advance of the Russian army, strip it of its initiative, supply the Ukrainian army with more weapons, continue extensive mobilization in Ukraine, and strengthen the repressive and anti-Russian nature of the Ukrainian political regime

2. The experience of the Minsk 1 and Minsk 2 agreements clearly demonstrates this pattern

3. The consistent dishonesty of Western politicians and media regarding the conflict, as well as their refusal to acknowledge their own and Ukraine’s culpability, strongly suggests that history will repeat itself

4. Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials have repeatedly stated that what Russia needs is lasting peace, not just a temporary ceasefire

5. The West cannot really be trusted

6. Russia is advancing. A ceasefire always benefits those who are retreating.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geop...rs-military-fatigues

This article could have been applied to the Trump thread, but it deals more with Europe and the Ukrainian-Russian War situation in a global context.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/20...ve-the-global-reset/

Europe Faces a MAGA ‘Vibe-Shift’ as Trump Moves to His Primordial Objective – The Global Reset
If Europe pretends to replace the U.S., it is going to be extremely expensive, very politically costly, and it will fail.

President Trump wants Ukraine settled, full stop. This is so that he can move ahead quickly – to normalise with Russia, and begin the ‘big picture’ project of setting a new World Order, one that will end wars and facilitate business ties.

The point here – which Europe feigns to not understand – is that the end to the Ukraine conflict simply is Trump’s ‘gateway’ to the entire rationale and platform on which he stood: The Great Reset of the Geo-Political landscape. Ukraine, simply said, is the obstacle to Trump’s pursuit of his primordial objective: The Global Reset.

Starmer, Macron and the eastern wing of the Euro-élites are blind to the sheer scale of the global vibe-shift towards traditionalist U.S. politics and ethics. They miss too, the barely concealed fury in the Trump world that exists behind this nascent revolution. “The Maga Right has none of the inhibitions of its predecessors. It is planning to leverage the power of a recaptured state to annihilate its enemies”, Allister Heath writes.

The European Ruling Class is in desperate trouble and increasingly isolated, in a world shifting ‘Rightward’ at breakneck speed. “The U.S. is now the enemy of the West”, the FT proclaims. European leaders wantonly won’t understand.

The reality is that the U.S. is engaged now in rolling up Europe’s foreign policy. And, is about to start exporting U.S. traditional Republican values to roll up the European wokeist belief-system. The European Ruling strata – far removed from its base – has failed to grasp the threat to its own interests (a scenario outlined here).

The Trump administration is trying to rebuild the ailing Republic, and Americans in this new era do not care for the European obsession with ancient feuds and their entailing wars.

Trump reportedly views with utter disdain the UK and European boast that should the U.S. not do it, then Europe will. The Brussels class claims to be able still – after three years of losing in Ukraine – to be able to inflict a humiliating defeat on President Putin.

More profoundly, however, Team Trump – committed to the task of taking down the American Deep State as the ‘inexorable enemy’ – perceives (rightly) the British security state to be co-joined at the hip with their American counterparts, as a part of its global meta-structure. And its oldest and deepest component has always been the destruction of Russia, and its dismemberment.

So when Macron, in an address to the nation this week, rejected a ceasefire in Ukraine and declared that “peace in Europe is only possible with a weakened Russia”, calling the country a direct threat to France and the continent, many in ‘Trump world’ will interpret this defiant declaration (that ‘Ukraine defeating Russia is preferable to ‘peace’’) is nothing more than Macron and Starmer ventriloquising the aims of the Meta Deep State.

This notion is lent substance by the sudden plethora of articles appearing in the European-(managed) MSM to the effect that Russia’s economy is much weaker than it appears and might collapse in the next year. Of course it is nonsense. This is about managing the European public to believe that keeping the war going in Ukraine is a ‘good idea’.

The absurdity of the European position was perhaps best captured, as Wolfgang Münchau notes, in its full hubris last year by the historian and writer Anne Applebaum when she won a prestigious German peace prize. During her acceptance speech, she maintained that victory was more important than peace, asserting that the West’s ultimate goal should be regime change in Russia: “We must help Ukrainians achieve victory, and not only for the sake of Ukraine,” she said.

Zelensky and his European fans want ‘to negotiate’ – though later, rather than sooner (perhaps in a year, as one European Foreign Minister reportedly told Marco Rubio privately).

“This”, Münchau writes, “is what the very public disagreement in the Oval Office [last week] was all about. Peace through untrammelled victory — essentially the Second World War model — as the lens through which virtually all European leaders, and most commentators view the Russia-Ukraine conflict”.

America sees things differently: It views almost certainly the European Deep State to be putting a spoke into Trump’s ‘normalisation with Russia’ wheel – a normalisation to which they are viscerally opposed. Or, at the very least, as the Europeans chasing a “mirage that no longer exists, stubbornly hiking ‘tax and spend’, whilst doubling down on mass immigration and overpriced energy, oblivious to the flashing red lights in the [financial markets] as government debt yields rocket to their highest levels since 1998”, as Allister Heath outlines.

In other words, the suggestion is that Friedrich Merz, Macron and Starmer are talking about how they are going to turn around their countries – via a massive infusion of debt – into defence superstates. Yet, at some level of consciousness, they must realise that it is not doable, so they settle instead for presenting themselves as ‘world leaders on the international stage’.

The European élites are deeply unstable ‘leaders’ who are risking the prosperity and stability of the continent. It is clear these countries do not have the military capacity to intervene in any concerted manner. More than anything, it is the European economy circling the drain that is the reality at the gates.

Zelensky is accomplice to the European insistence that defeating Russia takes priority over achieving peace in Ukraine, in spite of lacking any strategic rationale as to how it may be achieved after three years of a worsening military situation. Both plans – crushing the Russian economy with sanctions and attrition of the Russian military to the point of collapse – have failed. Why then does Zelensky resist Trump’s peace proposals? On the surface, it makes no sense.

The explanation likely goes back to the post-Maidan era when the western ‘Meta Security State’ (principally, the British and the Americans) entrenched hardline Banderites (then a tiny minority) into the Ukrainian Police, Intelligence and Security State. They are still today the controlling force. Even were this faction to acknowledge that their war cannot be won, they understand what happens if they lose:

Russia will not deal with them. They view them as extremists (if not war criminals) who are in no way ‘agreement capable’ and must be replaced by a leadership who is actually capable of compromise. Russia would likely pursue and bring these men to trial. Zelensky has to be frightened at what the Banderites might do to him (despite his British team of bodyguards).

Well, Trump is not entertaining these European ‘games’: He is administering a slap-down to Zelensky and European leaders, perhaps bringing Zelensky into line; or perhaps not … Team Trump, Politico reports, has now entered into direct talks with the Ukrainian opposition on holding early elections to unseat Zelensky – who is on his way to being removed, members of Team Trump say.

Zelensky may be finished, but interestingly Zaluzhniy wasn’t discussed either. He is being groomed by the British as a replacement – it looks like the Americans are going to make this decision independently of the British, too.

President Trump has ordered intelligence sharing with Ukraine stopped. What he technically did was to stop allowing Ukraine to use exclusive U.S. targeting systems controlled by U.S. Intelligence, the CIA, the National Reconnaissance Office and the U.S. National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. What has been suspended is the exchange of so-called ‘lethal’ data, including information for HIMARS targeting. However, the defensive information needed for protection is still being provided to Ukraine.

“The extent of the intelligence-sharing freeze, which appears to have been imposed alongside the halt in military aid Mr Trump announced on Monday, initially appeared to be somewhat limited … But by Wednesday afternoon it became clear that the Trump administration, ignoring overtures from Mr Zelensky the previous evening, had gone much further. A military intelligence officer in Kyiv told The Telegraph that the freeze amounted to “more or less a total blackout””.

Put bluntly, the earlier munitions freeze will undoubtedly affect Ukraine’s military abilities over time, however the impact might not be felt for some weeks. The loss of vital intelligence, however, will make its mark immediately. It will – simply put – blind Ukraine. In Ukrainian command posts, the battle tracking and satellite online feeds on tablets and TV screens have indeed been disconnected.

What Trump’s slap-down has done is to puncture the fiction that Ukraine is able to defend itself with a little substitute of European support. That has always been nonsensical bravado. NATO, the CIA and the global Intelligence Community have been in control of the war fighting from the outset. And that, for now, has been switched off.

So, Europe wants to shoulder the U.S. burden? Bloomberg reports that European bond markets are in meltdown. If Europe pretends to replace the U.S., it is going to be extremely expensive, very politically costly, and it will fail.

https://www.newsmax.com/politi...dkt_nbr=0105022xalbf

Zelenskyy: Putin Not Interested In Peace, Will Delay Deal

Russian President Vladimir Putin will drag out a deal for a ceasefire because he is not interested in peace, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Thursday night, while President Donald Trump remained optimistic about the progress of the discussions.

The Ukrainian president, during his evening address to Ukrainians, said that Putin's response to the ceasefire proposal was "very predictable," reports The New York Times on Friday.

He added that Putin has demanded so many preconditions that "nothing will work out at all, or that it will not work out for as long as possible."

Zelenskyy also accused Putin of pretending to be willing to accept the agreement but "at the moment he is, in fact, preparing to reject it," according to The Guardian.

"Putin does this often — he doesn't say 'no' outright, but he drags things out and makes reasonable solutions impossible," said Zelenskyy.

Trump, however, said that he sees "good signals" toward finalizing a 30-day ceasefire agreement between the warring countries, with U.S. officials visiting Moscow expected to meet with Putin.

"It doesn't mean anything until we hear what the final outcome is, but they have very serious discussions going on right now with President Putin and others, and hopefully, they all want to end this nightmare," Trump said in the Oval Office during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Thursday, reports The New York Times.

"It's a nightmare," he added. "It's a horrible thing."

His remarks came as Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has been conducting meetings in Russia.

Trump also said he hopes to speak with Putin soon and that the United States has been discussing the potential of concessions on "pieces of land that would be kept and lost and all of the other elements of a final agreement."

"A lot of the details of a final agreement have actually been discussed," the president added.

Meanwhile, Trump's meeting with Rutte appeared to have been friendly, even with Trump's frequent complaints about NATO.

He said Rutte is doing a "fantastic job," with Rutte praising Trump for pushing countries to contribute more money for military spending.

"I really want to work together with you in the run-up to The Hague summit to make sure that we will have a NATO which is really reinvigorated under your leadership, and we are getting there," said Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister.

Rutte appeared to steer away from conflict with Trump during the meeting, including when Trump was asked about efforts to annex Greenland, a territory controlled by fellow NATO member Denmark.

He said that Rutte "could be instrumental" in the plans because "we have to do it. We really need it for national security."

Rutte responded by saying he did not want to "drag NATO into that," and pivoted the topic to agreeing with Trump that Russia and China are posing threats in the Arctic.

quote:

Zelenskyy: Putin Not Interested In Peace, Will Delay Deal

Russian President Vladimir Putin will drag out a deal for a ceasefire because he is not interested in peace, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Thursday night, while President Donald Trump remained optimistic about the progress of the discussions.

The Ukrainian president, during his evening address to Ukrainians, said that Putin's response to the ceasefire proposal was "very predictable," reports The New York Times on Friday.

Zelenskyy cannot be trusted. Why can't he just keep his mouth shut and say, "We will see... " like Trump would?
He's such a weasel...

Ahead of Meeting with President Trump Envoy Witkoff, Russian President Says He Agrees in Principle With Ceasefire Proposal

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he agrees in principle with a U.S. proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, but the terms need to be worked out, and he emphasized that it should pave the way to lasting peace.

The “root causes” of the conflict need to be discussed in advance of a cessation of hostilities in order for Russia to evaluate terms of a ceasefire, and who would ultimately be in charge of ensuring peace along a 2,000km point of confliction.

President Putin notes a discussion between himself, and President Trump is needed in order for both principals in control of the conflict to understand the terms of any agreement. Keep in mind, this press conference happens as President Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff prepares to enter a discussion with President Putin.

Beyond the Kursk operation where Putin has encircled the remaining Ukraine ground troops, an issue of importance to Russia, it appears that President Putin might be looking for President Trump to be the ‘peace enforcer.’

There’s going to be a lot more that comes very soon; however, it is prudent to be very careful when looking at western media on the issue of Russia’s response.

Putin will never trust the word of the EU, NATO, Ukraine control agents or Volodymyr Zelenskyy. There is only one person to whom President Putin is willing to give a modicum of respect and trust, that’s U.S President Donald Trump. It is an amazing dynamic.

https://theconservativetreehou...-ceasefire-proposal/

After Trump appeal, Putin says he will spare Ukrainians in Kursk if they surrender

https://www.reuters.com/world/...ut-kursk-2025-03-14/

March 14 (Reuters) - Russia will spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers in its western Kursk region if Kyiv tells them to surrender, President Vladimir Putin said on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump urged him to avoid a "horrible massacre" there.

Ukraine denied its men were encircled, describing that as a Russian fabrication, but President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the situation "very difficult".

No way Kiev will tell them to surrender

^^^
Russian President Putin Says They Will Spare Ukrainian Soldiers in Kursk if They Lay Down Their Arms and Surrender

Why isn’t Volodymyr Zelenskyy the one asking for mercy? That’s the larger, unspoken message from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Speaking directly to President Donald Trump’s request for Russia to spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers surrounded in the Kursk region, President Vladimir Putin says they will be spared if they lay down their arms and surrender.

Notice how Putin draws a distinction between President Trump and President Zelenskyy.

Putin says, “we are sympathetic to President Trump’s call to be guided by humanitarian considerations,” and then Putin shifts the emphasis on the absence of this plea from bloodthirsty Zelenskyy. “There must be an appropriate order from the military and political leadership of Ukraine to its troops to lay down their arms and surrender,” Putin said.

“We have read today’s appeal from President Trump to spare the lives of servicemen of the Ukrainian Army in the Kursk region. In this regard, please note that Ukrainian militants have committed numerous crimes against civilians. These acts, as I have already stated, are classified by us as terrorism. At the same time, we are sympathetic to President Trump’s call to be guided by humanitarian considerations regarding these servicemen. In this regard, I emphasize that if they lay down their arms and surrender, they will be guaranteed life and dignified treatment. To effectively implement President Trump’s call, there must be an appropriate order from the military and political leadership of Ukraine to its troops to lay down their arms and surrender.”
~ President Putin

President Putin recognizes the efforts of President Trump to reframe the U.S-Russia relationship after years of untrustworthy behavior. Finalizing with a simple, “let’s see what comes of it.”

My sense of these details is that Russian officials and U.S. officials have essentially agreed to a messaging process. The messaging process is the shifting of global perspectives from pretenses to non-pretending realities.

President Putin putting the responsibility of surrendering in Kursk directly on the shoulders of Volodymyr Zelenskyy to save his own troops is very strategic. President Trump doesn’t want Zelenskyy hiding behind him, and Putin is drawing Zelenskyy out.

https://theconservativetreehou...rrender/#more-270110

Zelenskyy while on a mission to reach and end to the war with Russia on his terms, and after being dismissed by President Trump, realized that he was going to need a suit.
Zelenskyy flew to the UK, chose the best tailor in London and asked: "For $1000, what can you make me?" The tailor offered to make a sweater and a tie.

Zelenskyy then went to Italy, and sought the best tailor in Rome, and asked: "For $1000, what can you make me?" The tailor offered to make a vest and a pair of pants for that sum.

Zelenskyy returned to the US, and sought the best Jewish tailor in New York City, and asked: "For $1000, what can you make me?" The answer came as a surprise. "For $1000 I can make you a suit, several shirts, a tie, and I’ll throw in a few pairs of pants."

Stunned, Zelenskyy asked: "How the same amount of money could buy so much more in the US. "It’s really quite simple," the tailor replied: "In America, you’re not so big.”

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:

Zelenskyy returned to the US, and sought the best Jewish tailor in New York City ...

My late grandfather, Shmuel Yatrofsky, was a tailor who got out of Odessa a few steps ahead of the police and made it to the U.S.

He would have appreciated that story.

Z"L

Imagine that

https://x.com/Bubblebathgirl/s.../1900974425001865569

Para,
That is a RT (Russian Television) fake video English interpretation. If you look at the original you can see the RT logo in the upper right.

Thank you. So, what's the correct translation?

Excuse me while I block that Twitter channel