Putin and Zelensky do not want to know anything about truces

Russia and Ukraine do not seem willing to declare a truce as Israel and the Islamist group Hamas have done, despite the fact that both presidents, the Russian Vladimir Putin and the Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelensky, have drawn parallels between both conflicts.

Putin accuses Israel and Ukraine of indiscriminately attacking civilian targets, while Zelensky has openly compared the Kremlin to Hamas. Both sides are gathering supplies for the winter.

Nobody is talking about a possible Christmas break after Moscow already rejected the possibility of an Olympic truce in mid-2024. In fact, Moscow has intensified attacks on the entire front, especially around the strongholds of Avdivka (Donetsk region). and Kupiansk (Kharkov).

Ukraine, whose capital was the target of a massive drone attack this morning, continues trying to advance south of the Dnieper River, although its senior officials openly acknowledge that they are on the defensive in other sectors.

Without trust, there is no peace worth it

The leader of the presidential party in the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian legislature), David Arajamia, revealed this Saturday on television that, during the March 2022 negotiations in Istanbul, Russia tried to extract from Kiev a commitment to neutrality.

“That was the most important thing for them (the Russians). “They were willing to end the war if we accepted neutrality – as Finland did at the time – and committed not to join NATO,” said Arajamia, who then led the Ukrainian delegation.

He recalled that this would require modifying the Constitution. “No, there was no confidence that the Russians would comply. This can only be done if there are security guarantees (…) We could only work if we have 100% certainty that this will not be repeated. And that security does not exist,” he stated.

In response, the head of the International Affairs Committee of the Duma (Russian chamber of deputies), Leonid Slutski, admitted this Saturday that “the peace treaty” was ready and that is why Moscow withdrew its troops from the north of Kiev in a gesture Of goodwill.

“It is evident that the (Ukrainian) neo-Nazi regime is looking for a way out. It is not too late to return to the path of negotiations (…) But only now under other conditions, taking into account the new territorial reality,” said Slutski, who blamed the West for the failure of those negotiations.

Tragedy with no end in sight

Putin admitted this week at the G20, where he shared the stage with Western leaders for the first time in a long time, that war is indeed “a tragedy” and that “we have to think about how to stop it.”

But, next, he criticized the West for its double standards for not being moved in the same way by the suffering of the pro-Russians in Donbas and the Palestinians in Gaza as by the pain of Israelis and Ukrainians.

In an unprecedented gesture, the leader of Russia's only legal opposition party (Yábloko), Grigory Yavlinsky, personally asked Putin to stop the war.

“The objective of the meeting was the ceasefire. He is the only person who can make that decision (…) There is no peace plan. It is a fantasy. There is a thesis about the need for a cessation of hostilities. That's all,” he told the local press.

March presidential elections could tip the balance. Although politically Putin has time on his favor – a new six-year term – the situation is unsustainable from a social point of view (more than 50,000 dead) and economically (40% spending on defense and security).

Zelensky sticks to his guns

The deep pessimism that overwhelmed Kiev after the rejection in the US Congress of a new aid package for Ukraine seems to have faded, although military assistance of 50 billion euros from the European Union (EU) is now also in doubt.

“We need three wins. The first, in Congress. It is a challenge. Is not easy. Not everything depends on us,” said Zelensky when receiving the Latvian leader, Edgars Rinkevics, in kyiv.. The second and third victories would be help from Brussels and accession to the EU.

The breath of fresh air was brought by Germany, which announced this week a new package of 1.3 billion euros focused on the defense of Ukrainian skies and another Patriot anti-aircraft system is on the way.

The Ukrainian counteroffensive is experiencing a clear stalemate, but Zelensky does not want to hear about it and advised the military not to dedicate themselves to politics, as that is what he is already there for.

“Russia makes the most of the different challenges in the world to divert any aid to Ukraine. “They do everything possible to distract attention from the war in our country,” he said, alluding to the conflict in the Middle East.