Fascist Moscow Slandering Democratic Kyiv

"You see, if we just stop, it means forgetting the root causes of this conflict which the American administration clearly understood."

"I am referring to ensuring Ukraine's non-aligned, non-nuclear status, which implies refraining from any attempts to draw it into NATO."

"[Freezing the fighting at this point] would mean only one things: a large part of Ukraine would remain under Nazi rule."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov 

 

"Russia's Stalling Tactics have shown time and time again that Ukraine is the only party serious about peace."

"We can all see that Putin continues to choose violence and destruction."

Joint statement by Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland 

 

"Let it [the contested region] be cut the way it is."

"It's cut up right now. I think 78% of the land is already taken by Russia... I said: cut and stop at the battle line."

"Go home. Stop fighting, stop killing people."

U.S. President Donald Trump 

Russia has rejected European calls for a ceasefire based on existing front lines  Reuters

 

President Trump's call on Tuesday to freeze Ukraine fighting at the current front line was rejected by Russia. Last week the U.S. president stated he believed that Vladimir Putin wanted to secure a deal. Yet Trump's most recent demand for "an immediate ceasefire" was sloughed off by Russian foreign Minister Lavrov, as a non-starter "which has suddenly become a topic of discussion again". 

 

Calling it the opposite of what was agreed to at the Alaska summit when Trump and Putin met in August. At that juncture Trump had left off pressuring Putin to end the fighting before negotiations began.

 

On Saturday, Trump stated that both Russia and Ukraine should agree to stop fighting, that Kyiv and Moscow had to "stop the war immediately at the current battle lines". Following which Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Poland and top E.U. officials signed off on a statement Tuesday giving their support to the proposal for a ceasefire along the existing line of contact, prior to any talks. 

 

Firefighters work at the site of a building housing a kindergarten hit by a Russian drone strike, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, Nov.22. (Sofiia Gatilova/Reuters)

 

As for Russia's efforts at negotiations and its interest in ending the conflict, the statement reflected the group's skepticism about Russian sincerity. It is this very disagreement  that was likely responsible for the  delay in a planned face-to-face meeting between Lavrov and Secretary of State Marco Rubio set for this week in preparation for the proposed Trump-Putin summit in Budapest. That would be replaced, stated Lavrov, with phone contact between the two leaders.

 

Trump had accepted Putin's rejection of a ceasefire, at the Alaska summit. It had been decided that the best way to end the war was to "go directly to a peace agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere ceasefire agreement which often times do not hold up", Trump had recorded on Truth Social, his social media site. 

 

Since no agreement was reached, and the matter was left up in the  air for future discussion, Russia felt free to ramp  up its attacks on Ukraine while resisting Trump's later calls for a meeting between Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Putin once again demanded during Thursday's phone call with Trump, that Ukraine surrender all of Donetsk region, including territory Russia had yet to conquer, clarified U.S. officials.

 

On Friday at a subsequent White House meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump urged him to surrender all of the Donbas, inclusive of Donetsk region, portraying it as an opportunity to get a deal, rather than see his country destroyed by Russia. This was yet another meeting with a tense atmosphere prevailing, according to people familiar with the exchange that had taken place.

 

Nevertheless at the conclusion of the inconclusive meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump echoed a stance that Zelenskyy had endorsed, calling for a ceasefire along the front line, as it currently stood. A call that served to incense Lavrov, no doubt in emulation of Vladimir Putin's reaction.