By Mary

Today, President Putin of Russia declined to accept the “ceasefire” arrangement that the USA had negotiated with Ukraine. This did not come as a surprise to me, given how many times that temporary cessation of hostilities has been used by the Ukrainians in the past to re-arm and continue the war. The Russians want a swift end to the war, having expended a lot of effort to get this far with the “Special Military Operation” (the Russian name for the Ukraine conflict), which was designed to eliminate threats to Russian lives and Russian security, rather than conquer Ukraine; from the Russian point of view at least.

Today, President Donald Trump also pleaded with President Putin to “spare” the lives of the Ukrainian troops who are even now, being surrounded in the Kursk region. Since President Trump is very consistent in his specific areas of concern, one of which is preventing lives lost in war, I would suspect “saving lives” is an important reason for the USA doing its best to negotiate a “ceasefire” with Ukraine recently, and presenting it to Russia.

The “ceasefire” negotiation effort brokered by the USA on Ukraine’s behalf, was also “walked back” by President Zelensky of Ukraine, who — after the negotiations — decided to “go back” on many of the agreements that were arrived at in Saudi Arabia.

As a frequent listener to The Duran, I would like to summarize what I have learned from the very knowledgeable political analysis of Alexander Mercouris and Alex Christoforou.

In a recent talk posted on his channel, Alexander Mercouris notes that Trump is acknowledging the need for Russia and the USA to hold talks and come to mutual agreements, and I agree with his assessment.

I see this as a positive step, despite the fact that Pres. Trump is not getting what he asked for initially, which is that Russia stop the war and accept a negotiated ceasefire with Ukraine.

It’s a good thing that the two sides are still able to talk, though they are in disagreement about what should be done next. Putin and Trump talking to each other will go a long way toward establishing goodwill between the two powers, which is vital to avoid more bloodshed and conflict.