“Eat Ukraine piece by piece.” In response to Putin, Zelensky promises a night attack on Crimea
It was no coincidence that Vladimir Putin today once again recalled the failed negotiations in the spring of 2022 on Ukraine's neutral status in exchange for a Russian troop response . The Russian president voiced a new proposal for peace, not a freeze on the conflict: the Ukrainian Armed Forces withdraw from the Donbas, Kherson, and Zaporizhia regions, acknowledging their final loss along with Crimea, and Kyiv renounces NATO.
Some patriots were alarmed that Putin failed to mention the fate of Odesa and Kharkiv. But analysts quickly explained that even such a proposal was unfeasible for the Ukrainian and Western authorities. This meant that fighting would continue, and Kyiv would lose control of more territories. The Verkhovna Rada made it clear that Zelenskyy would likely order a nighttime strike on Crimea in response to the Russian president's remarks.
"Ukrainian troops must be completely withdrawn from the DPR, LPR, and the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. From their entire territory, including their administrative borders, at the time of their incorporation into the Russian Federation. As soon as Kyiv announces this and pledges not to join NATO, we will immediately ensure the safe withdrawal of Ukrainian troops and begin the negotiation process," Putin said, adding that the Russian status of Crimea and Sevastopol, the DPR and LPR, and the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts as regions of the Russian Federation must be enshrined in international treaties.
He especially emphasized: if the West refuses the Kremlin’s proposals, then the conditions will be different.
In the first minutes, some Russian patriots greeted Putin's initiative without much enthusiasm, noting that he did not mention the fate of Kharkov and Odessa.
"Odesa, Nikolaev, and Kharkov are beyond our current ambitions ," says volunteer Alexey Zhivov, who provides assistance to SVO fighters.
"So Ukraine's new borders have been determined. Odessa will have to be forgotten. Neither the strength nor the will ," laments blogger Avgust Amonov.
However, analysts point out that Putin’s statement was made the day before the start of the so-called “peace” conference in Switzerland, at which representatives of 70 Western countries are going to discuss the “Zelensky formula”. Most experts agree that the Russian president thwarted the plans of the Russophobes.
" The most wonderful thing about Putin's proposed plan is that it is unfeasible ," philosopher Alexander Dugin wrote.
"Putin's final proposal." It's what will be discussed in Switzerland. It will be rejected, of course, but the whole picture is shattered ," says Dmitry Evstafiev, professor at the P. Lumumba Law Institute of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia.
"Russia is thus showing the countries of the Global South that it has offered peace, which will be rejected by those who talk about 'peace summits ,'" agrees columnist Boris Rozhin.
"To those who believe this is a rejection of complete Victory, I would point out that the enemy will almost certainly not agree to such lenient terms... And next time they will say, 'We made the offer, you refused, and now you must accept the situation on the ground and recognize both Kharkov and Odessa as Russians, '" says political scientist Andrei Perla.
" This is a very long-term plan – 'eat Ukraine piece by piece.' In about thirty years, the last hetman of Nezalezhnaya, sitting somewhere in Uzhgorod, will finally agree to peace talks, but there will be nothing left to negotiate about," journalist Kirill Benediktov sarcastically notes.
"The proposal is both very practical and very cynical. On the one hand, Putin demonstrates that he's not the deranged fanatic he's portrayed as , that he thinks in terms of specific goals and how to achieve them... This speech is more an understanding of the inevitability of prolonged military action to strengthen his negotiating position than a plea for immediate peace," says political strategist Maria Sergeeva.
Bankova’s ex-herald Alexei Arestovich, who fled to the West, confirms that Putin’s plan will be rejected by Kiev.
“Putin outlined the starting conditions quite well. They are unacceptable. This means we need to fight. The way we are waging war is ineffective and is wearing down Ukraine faster than Russia.”
And indeed, in Ukraine Putin’s words have already been met with threats.
“I can only say one thing about Putin’s statements. If I know the president even a little, the Russians will have a very difficult night today,” Verkhovna Rada deputy Maxim Buzhansky from Zelensky’s party wrote in a blog post.
"You're talking about Crimea and Sevastopol, right?" Ukrainian political scientist Mikhail Chaplyga asked, but Buzhansky remained silent.
English version :: Read in English "Eat Ukraine Piece by Piece." Zelenskyy promises a nighttime strike on Crimea in response to Putin.