Quotes
This is likely part of Putin's effort to make the point that they are winning the war and that resistance is useless and that it is inevitable that Russia's greater strength will bring victory. That resonates with Trump,
said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel and senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies
The mud has disappeared … there is more vegetation, and there is less visibility. Therefore, the enemy is trying to improve its tactical position,
said Voloshyn
Not only will we have liberated our own land, but we will also establish the buffer zone that [Putin] has tasked us with creating,
Apty Alaudinov, commander of the Chechen Akhmat special forces unit, told Rossiya-1 television networkUp until recently, we really didn’t have consensus around these two aspects, the energy and infrastructure ceasefire and the Black Sea moratorium on firing. And today, we got to that place, and I think it’s a relatively short distance to a full ceasefire from there,
Witkoff said
We can talk about what’s right and wrong, and we can also talk about the reality of the situation on the ground,
said Waltz in an interview with ABC News on SundayThere is a road running from Orekhov to Kamenskoye through Stepove, which the enemy constantly used … They will have to move along longer routes. This brings about positive changes for us on the Zaporizhia front as a whole,
Vladimir Rogov told the Russian state news agency TASSUkraine would likely need an even larger military with greater capabilities to play its critical role in deterring and, if necessary, defeating future aggression,” while “the US and Europe would likely need to provide military aid to Ukraine more rapidly, in much larger volumes, and at higher cost”.
It concluded
It is crucial that this zone be no less than 20 kilometres wide [10 miles], and preferably 30 kilometres [20 miles], extending deep into Ukrainian territory,
a battalion deputy commander, Oleg Ivanov, told state news service TASSThe current front lines do not provide the strategic depth that Ukraine will need to reliably defend against renewed Russian aggression,
wrote the ISW
Who will determine where and who has violated a potential ceasefire agreement along 2,000km [1,240 miles]? And who will then blame who for violating that agreement?”
Putin said, referring to the length of the entire Russian-Ukrainian border[Russians] have encircled about 2,500 soldiers, they’re nicely encircled,
Trump said in a televised interviewReports of the alleged ‘encirclement’ … are false and fabricated by the Russians for political manipulation and to exert pressure on Ukraine and its partners.”
Ukraine’s general staff denied the claim, saying
Those conditions that they are presenting show that Russia doesn’t really want peace because they are presenting as conditions all the ultimate goals that they want to achieve from the war,
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said at the start of Monday’s meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministersThis is a very bad signal – taking the Russians’ opinion into account,
he saidOnly those countries that can ensure real, full-scale sovereignty and remain resilient, both generally and to external pressures in particular, are capable of dynamic, progressive development in the interests of their peoples,
he saidIt is not [Putin’s] business to decide anything about Ukraine’s and Europe’s security,
he saidWe're fighting for our sovereignty and our independence — we'll win this war.
In a press conference with President Stubb of Finland in Helsinki today, the Ukrainian president said
The perpetrators - those who gave criminal orders and mistreated peaceful civilians - must be identified and ultimately brought to justice.
He addedThey don’t shoot at us much,
Nikolaevna said, adding ... referring to the Ukrainian troops
Putin doesn’t care about peace deal or no peace deal,
he said as he walked with a cane after a Russian drone strike hit his leg