Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has transformed into an unwinnable slog of a war, with Russian troops finding themselves beaten back to their own border on several occasions over the course of the last ten months.
And, for a war that Putin himself believed would be over in 13-72 hours, the news has been rather disheartening…and frankly a little scary, knowing now that his army is a mere shell of what he believed it to be.
Now, in what appears to be an effort to save face, (and soldiers), the Russian Federation President is ready to return to the negotiating table.
Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed in an interview with state television on Sunday that Moscow wants to negotiate, even as Ukrainian cities were hit with a barrage of missiles over the Christmas weekend.
“We are ready to negotiate with everyone involved about acceptable solutions, but that is up to them – we are not the ones refusing to negotiate, they are,” Putin said.
Officials in Ukraine weren’t amused.
The claim was rebuffed by Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who said that “Putin needs to come back to reality.”
“Russia single-handedly attacked Ukraine and is killing citizens. There are no other ‘countries, motives, geopolitics,'” Podolyak tweeted. “Russia doesn’t want negotiations, but tries to avoid responsibility.”
The Kremlin’s failures in Ukraine are far more detrimental than their mere impact on the battlefield as well, with the global order now being reshaped on account of these abject and harrowing failures.
