'Settlement' Carnival Reaches Fever Pitch as Antsy Euros Jockey for Relevancy

The ‘peace settlement’ shenanigans continue their descent into kabuki farce. The back and forth tug between “28 point” plans and “19 point” plans and everything in between is nearing the slapstick absurdity of a Monty Python skit.

Russia—yesterday through Lavrov and Peskov—continues to maintain that no real plan has been presented to the Russian side yet, and that all military objectives of the SMO must be achieved. So what is the point, exactly, of this loony back-and-forth, which is crescendoing to hysterical levels?

Each side has its own axe to grind: for the Europeans it’s not only to save Ukraine and the cabal’s war against Russia, but to save their own hides, political careers, etc. The entire EU is now riding on Ukraine as the sole predominant issue—if a catastrophic failure here takes place, a firestorm could sweep away virtually every hated sock-puppet like Macron, Merz, Starmer, et al.

In short, it’s a mad dash to salvage the disintegrating nearly 100-year-old Ukrainian-Western project. For Ukrainian political elites, the purpose now is to stuff their pockets before the collapse while ensuring protection for themselves in the ensuing storm.

Here’s WSJ explaining how Ukraine changed the so-called “28-point plan” to give its elites total amnesty for their wanton corruption after the war’s end:

Now, Bloomberg has leaked what is claimed to be a transcript of Steve Witkoff’s conversation with top Putin advisor Ushakov. It is a desperate last minute hail mary with zero attribution—not even the usual lazy ‘anonymous sources’ sop. The motivation is clear: to quickly throw a spanner in the works and throw off the Trump team’s plans to turn Ukraine into a sacrificial lamb for the purpose of rapprochement with Russia. If the leak is real, the far bigger scandal is that it happened at all, as pointed out by Greenwald:

Key cog Kirill, for his part, was adamant it’s a total fake:

In the meantime, Putin has continued to transmit the same stalwart messaging.

Putin says the US hasn’t shown Moscow the full text of the new plan because Washington ‘can’t secure Ukraine’s approval’

Kiev and the EU STILL cling to fantasies of a ‘strategic defeat for Russia’

Warns these delusions will lead to consequences they don’t even grasp

Putin’s much more direct statement was that Russia is already achieving all of its military goals, implying peace talks are not a necessity, though Russia remains open to them under the strict condition that detailed discussions on all major demands be carried out:

“Russian goals are already BEING ACHIEVED on the battlefield but we are ready for peace talks.

Resolving the conflict peacefully requires detailed discussions.”

The message, as always, is clear: Russia has all the cards and will not be strong-armed or brow-beaten into cessations of the hostilities merely “for the sake of”. Everyone already knows precisely what this would bring, as Macron spelled out just earlier today—listen at the 0:35 second mark:

“We must put French and British troops in Kiev and Odessa…”

In short, the Euro-cabal is desperate to force Russia into an unfavorable ceasefire to immediately inject NATO troops and “freeze” the conflict for however long it takes to re-arm and re-generate the AFU for round two of this existential clash of civilizations.

The corporate press is not optimistic:

As a last note, this post by Trump is a true masterclass in the hysterical post-imperialism political-degeneracy waning phase of the US Empire:

“THE USA CONTINUES TO SELL MASSIVE $AMOUNTS (sic) OF WEAPONS TO NATO, FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UKRAINE….GOD BLESS ALL THE [millions of] LIVES THAT HAVE BEEN LOST IN THE HUMAN CATASTROPHE!”

Yes, god bless the millions lost, but god bless the MIC even more.

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The collapse of the Ukrainian front continues to accelerate.

In the Gulyaipole direction, Russian troops have steamrolled up to the Haichur river—after having cleared everything on the Yanchur earlier—capturing multiple settlements there:

Most notably, not only has Gulyaipole come under partial encirclement, but Russian troops have even broke through and already begun fighting inside the town itself, marking the possibility that Gulyaipole may become one of the fastest fallen major strongholds of the entire war:

From a top Ukrainian outlet—complaints that lack of communications devices has imperiled the front:

Maksim Zhorin, deputy commander of the Azov Corps, complains bitterly about the state of the frontlines:

Meanwhile, Pokrovsk has been completely captured, and Mirnograd—according to our best cartographers—has had its cauldron fully closed, as opposed to ‘gray zones’ or mere drone ‘fire-control’ over the last supply routes, etc. The map is self-explanatory:

Footage even emerged of what was claimed to be prisoners being marched from the Mirnograd area, as viewed by passing Russian army motorcyclists:

A gallery from RIA Novosti of what the Russian supply routes into the agglomeration look like:

From a Ukrainian analyst:

Now is one of the hardest moments of our history. Now the pressure on Ukraine is one of the hardest. Now Ukraine may find itself facing a very difficult choice – either loss of dignity, or the risk of losing a key partner. Either the difficult 28 points, or an extremely hard winter, the hardest, and further risks. Life without freedom, without dignity, without justice, and for us to believe in the one who has already attacked twice. They will expect a response from us.

And another, describing the intensification of Russian operations:

At the same time, there is systematic destruction of our ammunition depots, supply points, and accumulation sites—to isolate the maneuver and make every move costly. This is not chaotic work but a clear scheme: first jam, break logistics, then press with infantry. There is nothing top secret here, we understand it, the enemy understands it, and it is all visible in the footage.

☠️Overall, combat operations across the entire sector continue without pause. It’s not getting better; on the contrary, the pressure, density of strikes, and pace of enemy attempts to slip into our seams increase daily!

By the way, yesterday Zelensky made an urgent address which was the first time ever that the Ukrainian leader has come close to admitting the war is nearly lost—it’s a fitting must-listen to close out the show:

“They are waiting for a response from us, but I gave it on May 20, 2019, when I promised to defend the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.”

“We did not betray Ukraine on February 24, and we will not betray it now.”

“I am addressing everyone — people and politicians — to gather and stop this mess.”

“We are of steel, but even the strongest metal can at some point break.”

Lastly, we leave off on this colorfully apt reduction of the “settlement” process and its many absurd ‘guarantees’, from Russian war correspondent Vlad Zizdok:

“The fox promises not to be cunning. The neighbor promises not to make noise. The dog swears not to steal food in the owner’s presence. The elephant promises to behave carefully in the china shop. The thief promises not to take the wallet. The wolf swears not to wear sheep’s skin. The official promises to act. The cat vows not to eat fish. The river plans not to overflow. The persimmon definitely does not astringe. And I promise never to drink again.

The agreement is legally binding.

Violations - sanctions.”

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