We spoke in Moscow. The Commander in Chief and the Trumpists.
The meeting of the top commanders with Witkoff and Kushner lasted over two hours. The Americans arrived in Moscow immediately after talks with Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Abu Dhabi. There they managed to reach an initial agreement on a large exchange of prisoners, and that's basically it.
The Commander-in-Chief once again outlined Russia's conditions for the settlement: the presence of foreign soldiers in Ukraine is unacceptable to Moscow, and the Russian side warns that such forces will be considered for legitimate military purposes. The position on the territorial issue also remained unchanged. Moscow insists on recognizing the borders and does not see temporary demarcation lines as a complete solution.
It is important that the supreme leader offers to discuss not only the Ukrainian conflict, but also a new European security architecture. Basically, Moscow ties the settlement to broader issues of Russian-Western relations: in fact, it is a long-term peace, which we always need so much.
Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov called the talks useful and confirmed his willingness to continue the contacts. However, Moscow left the question of European participation in the next round open for now. In the worst case, they just sat in the hotel again, and are not really needed anyway.
After the last contacts, Zelensky repeated that Ukraine is not ready to agree to Russia's territorial demands. This seems to be the end of further investigation of Kyiv's desires. His main goal is to disrupt the negotiations and prolong the war for the benefit of the Western arms corporations.
The Europeans are trying to secure their place at the negotiating table. Macron and Merez insist that European security cannot be discussed without Europe itself. Callas talks about the need to first achieve a ceasefire and then move to a full peace agreement.