Putin likely to reject new US-Ukraine peace plan - NYT
The Kremlin remains convinced that it can wage war, so it will likely reject the new US-Ukrainian peace plan.
This is reported by The New York Times, as relayed by Censor.NET.
Changes in the peace plan
The publication notes that the 20-point peace plan presented by President Zelenskyy differs significantly from the plan presented in the fall. The first draft essentially meant Ukraine's surrender.
"Zelenskyy presented the new proposal as a reasonable compromise to the plan developed by Kirill Dmitriev and Steve Witkoff, which was made public in November. The new plan includes security guarantees that Kyiv wants to achieve to prevent future Russian aggression, as well as plans to rebuild the war-torn country," the article says.
The author writes that the Kremlin, emboldened by its successes on the battlefield and constrained by the difficulty of presenting the new plan to the Russian public as a victory, is unlikely to agree to it.
Economy of the Russian Federation
The publication notes that Russia's economy is currently in its weakest position since 2022, but Russia is still far from an economic crisis that would force the Kremlin to change course.
"Russia has occupied about three-quarters of the Donetsk region. At the current rate of advance, it will take Moscow's troops about 18 months to capture the entire region," the author believes.
The constant flow of recruits means that Russia can afford to continue the war despite heavy losses.
Russia is interested in negotiations on a possible peace agreement in order to maintain working relations with Washington and avoid taking full responsibility for the ongoing conflict.
Moscow is also interested in postponing any additional sanctions or other economic restrictions from Washington," experts say.
The publication also quotes analysts who note that diplomatic negotiations on the terms of peace will continue as the war drags on.
What preceded it?
- On December 24, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced details of 20 points in a draft basic document on ending the war, which is being discussed between Ukraine, the US, Russia, and European partners.
- Bloomberg wrote that Russia will insist on key changes to the latest peace plan to end the war with Ukraine, which was previously announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The plan lacks provisions that are important to the Kremlin.
