Putin Lays Final Word on 'Settlement' Sham in Kyrgyzstan Conference
It gets as tiring writing about the phony ‘peace settlement’ charade as it likely does for you reading about it. However, Putin has finally delivered the definitive word on the entire matter during a press conference on his Kyrgyzstan trip, which is worth taking note of because it answers key questions that lingered in people’s minds—particularly those of the concern troll disposition.
The biggest confirmation from Putin was that Russia was not given any real ‘draft treaties’ but rather more an informal list of points for discussion—this appears to be what Russian figures were referring to when they said nothing of consequence was really presented to Russia:
Statements by Vladimir Putin regarding the proposed Ukraine peace plans:
— There was no “draft peace treaty,” only a set of questions they suggested discussing
— Overall, we agree that this could serve as a basis for future arrangements
— Every word of the peace plan on Ukraine needs to be sat down and discussed seriously
— At present, some points of the plan sound ridiculous
— Russia is ready to formally confirm that it has no intention of attacking Europe
— Russian and Ukrainian intelligence services have always maintained contact; the Abu Dhabi venue is actively used for POW matters
— The appearance of a U.S. representative at the Abu Dhabi talks was unexpected
— U.S. representatives will come to Russia next week
— Russia will cease hostilities only when the Ukrainian Armed Forces leave the occupied territories — or when we achieve our goals militarily
In short, this is Putin’s way of downgrading the significance of the 28-point plan to a sort of very preliminary document meant merely for the initiation of serious discussions, rather than serving as some kind of final or pre-final agreement as was being sold by the overly-optimistic US side. This is particularly the case with the Trump team’s constant boasting that the war was now extremely close to its end, owing to this “plan” as final catalyst.
This, in essence, is no different to Russia’s reaction after Alaska, wherein the US attempted to dress it up as a major turning point toward a final phase of negotiations, while Russia considered it merely an informal and very preliminary chat about negotiations possibilities.
Putin made many other interesting statements of the ‘maximalist’ variety. Here he fails to suppress a wry smirk after explaining that Russia is quite prepared to “fight to the last Ukrainian”, as neocons in the West appear intent to do:
Putin further enumerated the AFU’s current prospects by giving us an update on its losses from the official Russian perspective:
He again updates us with interesting figures: Ukraine “lost” 47,500 in October, forcibly mobilized 16,500 and gained 15,000 wounded back from hospital convalescence. So, according to Putin Ukraine is regenerating 31,500 per month while losing 47,500. But are those 47,500 all ‘hard’ casualties, i.e. KIA and irretrievably wounded? He doesn’t specify, but given that he says the gap is growing we can assume from his perspective that number is in fact hard casualties, though it’s a little difficult to believe as it would signify over 1,500 per day.
He also gives a battlefield update, particularly on Dimitrov, or Mirnograd, and Krasnoarmeysk, or Pokrovsk:
We can conclude that the initial read from the very beginning—that this entire ‘peace plan’ charade is nothing more than empty blather—was in fact correct. The Russian side views the various schemes as little else than extremely preliminary starting points for the serious discussions to take place long after.
Putin did again mention in his new presentation that Russia was open to stopping hostilities if Ukrainian forces left Donetsk and Lugansk; I’ve already described before the game-theoretic value of Putin’s gambit on this count, as Russia has virtually nothing to lose to offer this.
Apart from all this back and forth, the war continues as before—nothing has changed. In fact, my operative theory now is that the MSM makes a big deal of this empty spectacle for one purpose only: to use it as a smokescreen to cover the rapid advances and victories of the Russian Armed Forces. By clogging the news cycle with this vapid ‘settlement’ business that is clear to everyone will go no where, mainstream corporate press outlets get to bury the real lede of Russia’s mounting triumphs and the AFU’s consequent collapse.
At this point, the only directive from the corporate cabal that controls both the global MSM outlets and the fascist EU apparatus is: buy more time at all costs.
Some are, of course, beginning to at least hint at the inevitabilities, but not before smothering them in totally laughable conceits:
This latest Economist piece is a perfect token of the contradictions inherent to the corporate media’s chosen narrative through-line. While using its headline to admit Ukraine is on the precipice, the piece shoehorns in some comical angles.
For instance, again repeating the inane trope that Russia will soon reach pre-collapse escape velocity:
Mr Trump appears to have dropped his demand for a Ukrainian signature before December. He may be frustrated by what comes next. Ukrainian observers think the Kremlin will not be ready to bargain until late winter. That is when Mr Putin will have to decide whether to launch a wider round of conscription, and when Russia’s economy will start to feel real stress from falling oil revenues and sanctions.
Or this inherently self-contradictory drivel, wherein the Economist on one hand expresses that Ukraine’s position is “manageable”, with Russians unable to breakthrough, while—without a shred of self-awareness—admitting that Ukraine is running out of soldiers:
Compared with the threat of internal instability, the battlefield can seem almost a secondary concern. Some analysts think Ukraine’s position is manageable. Russia has yet to show it can turn its creeping advances into a big breakthrough. “At this pace—and at this cost—there is no way Russia can win strategically,” says Andriy Zagorodnyuk, a former defence minister.
But on several important indicators, things are looking worse for Ukraine. It is running out of soldiers. Russian investment in mass-producing drones is paying off: it is choking Ukraine’s supply routes behind the front lines. And new weapons in the pipeline—jet-powered strike drones and glide bombs—threaten to make eastern cities like Kharkiv and Dnipro uninhabitable. Russia may be poor at conquering, but it excels at destruction.
There’s more truth to that last statement than they realize: Russia is poor at “conquering” but is good at destroying the AFU. Zakharova had even just announced that the US is scrambling to backfill Ukraine’s depleted forces with mercenaries—this time of the Filipino variety:
“US officials have launched a recruitment campaign in the Philippines to recruit volunteers to fight on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces” — Russia’s MFA spokesperson Maria Zakharova
She adds that applicants are offered monthly salary of $5,000
The American company RMS International, based in Florida, is recruiting candidates. Preference is given to former employees of the Philippine police and security agencies and retired military personnel,” she said.
For his part, Trump was asked why Russia doesn’t have to make any concessions in this deal charade, and his response is a familiar one—Russia’s main concession is to stop advancing:
Inherent to that remark is the understanding that Russia has virtually nothing to gain from these talks because by continuing the war, Russia will gain more and more land; even Trump seems to understand that he’s effectively asking Russia for a favor.
Retired Ukrainian Major General Dmytro Marchenko now outlines how far Russia will go:
Russia will retake Kherson and launch an offensive on Nikolaev, predicts former Ukrainian Armed Forces Major General Marchenko.
They will capture Pokrovsk, then enter the Dnepropetrovsk region, then advance on the Zaporozhye region, then jump across the river and recapture Kherson, then march on Nikolaev. This is what will happen, unfortunately, under this leadership and this attitude toward the war, Marchenko stated.
Note that Marchenko was actually in charge of the Kherson and Nikolayev theater when Ukrainian forces had retaken it from Russia—so he knows what he’s talking about, and so it lends quite some weight to his present conviction that Russia will likely end up retaking both major cities. And of course, if those were to fall, Odessa would only follow soon after.
On the front, Russian forces have consolidated in eastern Gulyaipole after breaking through the stronghold’s defenses:
They even recaptured Danilovka just north of it, while expanding control toward the Hiachur river. A small report on Zatishye, circled in red in the above map:
On the outskirts of Gulyai-Pole, the village of Zatishye was liberated by the 114th Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 5th Army. According to ground reports, the first assault groups of the Russian Armed Forces have been in Gulyai-Pole since yesterday. The offensive is being led by the Vostok (East) Group, which is why it is jokingly referred to as the “Far Eastern Express.” In the battles for Zatishye, the enemy has lost up to 100 infantry soldiers.
Further north, Seversk is also being eaten through, with Russian forces consolidating their positions inside the long-embattled city:
Note at the top left, Russian forces have also completely captured Yampol.
Here’s another view of Yampol with Krasny Lyman being further penetrated from the eastern side:
Lastly, the long overlooked city of Volchansk in the far north Kharkov region has been virtually entirely captured, with many POWs taken there over the past few weeks.
The wider view for context:
Note that the area circled in yellow was only somewhat recently connected, as there had been two separate Russian advance zones there, which has now turned into one unified front. Eventually the goal will be to unite this front along the entire border with the Volchansk one to create a buffer zone and springboard for further advances toward Kharkov itself.
There were many other smaller Russian advances in between large settlement zones but for now we’ll leave it at the most significant ones.
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A few last items:
How supply route nets unexpectedly look on the front after some heavy snows:
Meanwhile, Russian forces are utilizing napalm-dropping drones to burn out Ukrainian net tunnels:
And on an absurd note, France comes to the rescue for this very purpose:
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An interesting comparison map of WW1 advances over an almost two year period to the advances of Russian forces just over the same most-recent period:
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I wonder how US citizens feel about their government handing hard cash dollars to mercs abroad to pointlessly keep this war going? Could you, as a US citizen, use an extra 5,000 dollars this month- tax free? Giving it to you guys at home, would do the US far more good than burning it up in Ukraine or in a Filipino back alley.
‘It gets as tiring writing about the phony ‘peace settlement’ charade as it likely does for you reading about it.’
At this point in time I believe that there will not be a real settlement in the foreseeable future. The Trump/NATO/EU team is simply playing a game, they are looking at Ukraine as the ultimate foothold against Russia and they will not give up. Even if they arrive to some sort of deal where the guns will fall silent for a while, a hundred little backdoors will be left open to fan the flames of this war again. The main goal of the diplomatic game they are playing is only for a public display of their ‘goodwill’. Putin has no choice but to go along for relaxing public opinions on his own side. He understands the game hence the slow careful movements of the Russian armed forces.