Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said a few days ago that some Western powers are increasingly interested in resolving the issue through negotiations, and a number of Western leaders have approached him on potential negotiations to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Lavrov stressed that the Kremlin "stands ready to seriously discuss these issues" as long as the country's core interests are respected, and "we have never refused to negotiate, and this issue should not be raised against us."
△ Screenshot of the report on the website of "Russia Today" TV
"Ukrainian pressure is coming from both sides of the Atlantic"
This is the latest development in recent times about the beginning of the West's interest in "promoting talks."
Since last month, some US media first revealed that due to concerns about the stalemate in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and lack of certainty about the West's ability to continue to assist Ukraine, US and European officials have begun to discuss with the Ukrainian side how to negotiate with Russia to end the conflict, including what Ukraine "may need to give up."
△ Screenshot of NBC website report
Then, a number of media outlets reported information from German media that the United States and Germany, the two largest providers of military aid to Ukraine, were secretly hatching a plan to persuade Ukraine to start peace talks with Russia.
△ Screenshot of the German media report quoted by the Ukrainian newspaper "Kyiv Independent".
Recently, Seymour Hersh, a well-known American investigative journalist who had doxxed the inside story of the explosion of the "Nord Stream" gas pipeline, further revealed that the Russian-Ukrainian peace talks led by Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and Zaluzhny, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, seem to have started.
△ Screenshot of Hersh's article published on the "Subscription Stack" website
At the same time, unlike the previous sources, which mainly used "media revelations" as the source of information, the top level of the US official also released the wind for the first time.
Charles Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US military, admitted that there "will be no purely military solution" to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and that "sooner or later it will end in a diplomatic solution."
△ Screenshot of the report on the website of "Russia Today" TV
These false and real news are enough to show that if we don't talk about it, it will be difficult for Ukraine and the Western "pro-Ukraine" camp to hold on.
The United States has always been the largest donor to Ukraine, but now it has become the country with the most uncertain potential to aid Ukraine.
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made his third visit to the United States since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, asking the United States to continue to assist Ukraine. But almost nothing came of the visit.
Even Biden's tone on the issue of aid to Ukraine has changed dramatically.
When Biden met with Zelensky on the 12th, he said, "We can support (Ukraine) for as long as we can." Previously, he had insisted that "we will support (Ukraine) as long as it takes."
△ Screenshot of CNN report
Without the "leader" of the United States, Europe is obviously unable to support the situation alone.
At the just-concluded EU winter summit, a 50 billion euro medium- and long-term aid plan for Ukraine that the European Commission had been brewing for several months unsurprisingly sparked controversy and was finally shelved due to the failure of member states to agree.
△ Screenshot of the report on the website of "Deutsche Welle".
In the words of the German newspaper Die Welt, "the pressure on Ukraine now comes from both sides of the Atlantic".
△ Screenshot of the report of the German "Die Welt".
"Peace through negotiations will be inevitable"
With the reduction of aid, Western public opinion has recently exclaimed: Russia looks like it is winning.
The article in the British magazine The Economist admits that it is possible for Russia to win, since "the ingredient for victory is endurance." And in this confrontation of endurance, the Ukrainian counteroffensive has come to a standstill.
△ Screenshot of the report of The Economist magazine
The CNN report also argues that Russia has reason to expect a "slowly coming victory" as Western unity on Ukraine falters.
CNN: The Western coalition has witnessed the failure of its own strategy for Ukraine, and now they consider similar aid to be largely futile because Ukraine is unlikely to achieve a decisive victory.
John Nagle, a professor at the American War College, even asserted that Russia will "win the war" next November, when presidential elections are held in the United States.
There are two reasons for this: the situation of the war has not changed much in recent months, the Ukrainian counteroffensive has failed, and the once unshakable support for Ukraine in the United States and Europe is now clearly shaken.
△ Screenshot of the article in New York Biweekly
According to the New York Times, the United States is trying to prepare Ukrainians for next year and make them understand that no matter what kind of aid plan Congress approves, it is unlikely to be comparable to the scale of the White House's previous aid to Ukraine.
For this reason, some US military figures hope that Ukraine will change its strategy, shift the focus of operations from "counteroffensive" to "hold on to existing territory", and build up the ability to produce its own weapons.
△ Screenshot of the report on the website of the New York Times
It is in this situation that news about the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations keeps appearing.
The Deutsche Welle website quoted Walwijk, a political scientist at Halle University in Germany, as saying that major Western countries may not stop supporting Ukraine anytime soon, but their priorities will change, and "peace through negotiations will be inevitable."
△ Screenshot of the report on the website of "Deutsche Welle".
It is worth noting that French President Emmanuel Macron said at a press conference after the end of the EU Winter Summit on the 15th that his phone "has not changed the number".
"If President Putin is willing to engage in dialogue and make serious proposals to end the conflict and establish a lasting peace, then I will answer the phone. ”
△ Screenshot of the report of the French newspaper "Le Monde".
Coincidentally.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also said last month that he was open to future talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin: "I did this last year and I will continue to do it in the future." ”
△ Scholz made the above statement when he participated in an event held by the German newspaper "Heilbronn Opinion" on November 12
Ironically, many media have also pointed out that the reason why the West is still "cheering up" Ukraine and providing military aid as much as possible is only to ensure that Ukraine can have a "strong enough negotiating position".
As the article of the German "Süddeutsche Zeitung" said, at a time when it is becoming more and more difficult for the West to organize aid to Ukraine, NATO is talking about Ukraine's "victory" and "success". This sounds "both like a pretext for not providing more military aid to Kyiv and like a rhetorical preparation for some kind of negotiation with Russia."
△ Screenshot of the report of the German "Süddeutsche Zeitung".