Top Trump allies hold secret talks with Zelenskyy’s Ukrainian opponents
The senior Trump allies held talks with Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, a remorselessly ambitious former prime minister, and senior members of the party of Petro Poroshenko, Zelenskyy’s immediate predecessor as president, according to three Ukrainian parliamentarians and a U.S. Republican foreign policy expert.
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Foreign troops and peace (Google translate)
by @nsanzo
“The National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine supported the decision to appeal to the United Nations and the European Union on the “deployment of a peacekeeping and security mission in Ukraine.” This is not news from today, when the composition and size of a possible peacekeeping mission of European countries is being discussed after the possible ceasefire, but from February 18, 2015. Days earlier, in the Belarusian capital, after negotiations involving Angela Merkel, François Hollande, Petro Poroshenko and Vladimir Putin, the only peace agreement of this war had been signed and a ceasefire was to begin, which was to be routinely violated, and the political process that would return Donbass to Ukraine under very specific conditions and with certain linguistic, cultural, political and economic rights that Kiev always considered unacceptable and never had the slightest intention of fulfilling. Ukraine, which had suffered the second major defeat in the Donbass war at Debaltsevo after Ilovaisk in September 2014, was at its lowest point, its army was at risk of being overwhelmed and it needed to stop the war in order to recover and become stronger while waiting for the next phase of a war that all parties were aware was not over.
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Zelensky’s wear and tear (original)
For more than two and a half years, war has been the raison d’être of the Ukrainian state. The budget presented by Kyiv this week allocates more than 50% of the budget to the defence sector – to which must be added the cost of veterans – something that has been repeated since 2022. Maintaining the front, avoiding its collapse and ensuring that there is still enough support to continue fighting until the objectives are achieved is the priority of the government team, which has set aside practically all other obligations of the state, which today depends entirely on foreign subsidies that make it possible to pay salaries and pensions. One of the aspects that has completely disappeared under the cover of the unity demanded by the war is precisely domestic politics. The Russian invasion gave Zelensky’s team the opportunity to create for the president the image of a war leader, the representation of the nation, a savior capable of achieving what he sets out to do, the only person capable of rescuing the country from certain ruin.
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I love reading Pamphlets’ Twitter timeline for the laughs, but I love proving him wrong even more. Don’t slander Daddy Stalin! 🤭
I’ve excluded the paragraph pertaining to the perception management regarding momentum and knock out blows..
My understanding is Russia regularly rotates soldiers and it appears Russia will gain the upper hand in Avdiivka, if they do the loss will be enormous for Ukraine
War-weary mothers, wives and children of Ukrainian soldiers demand a cap on military service time
The Biden Zelensky Relationship: Who to Trust?
Is it destructive enough to shake Washington’s trust in Zelensky? Five days after the missile strike, former Australian ambassador to Poland and Cambodia Tony Kevin claimed that “There were unmistakeable signs this week of growing Western war-weariness and irritation with Zelensky’s endless demands for more weapons and money.” Then, echoing and amplifying Thomas Friedman’s report that “privately, U.S. officials are a lot more concerned about Ukraine’s leadership than they are letting on,” Kevin added that “There is growing speculation that Zelensky’s position as leader may be weakening. Washington may be considering replacing him, but it remains very unclear how and to what end.”
Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 