Putin rejects a possible ceasefire on the front line.
Trump's peace plan for Ukraine has failed, and Putin is satisfied with this, CNN claims. The Russian dictator is ready to spend more time on a war of attrition, aiming to seize as much Ukrainian territory as possible before the start of potential peace negotiations.
"The situation surrounding the Russian-American summit is currently in limbo. Of course, everything can still change, but today the forecast is more negative. Everything is pointing towards the cancellation of the event," states Russian political scientist Dmitry Drize.
However, one cannot forget about the political swings and Donald Trump's trump card called "unpredictability." Despite all this, the President of the United States still advocated for a ceasefire and the cessation of hostilities along the contact line. In Moscow, the aforementioned formula was immediately rejected.
As of today, the preliminary meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been postponed for an indefinite period. It was precisely at this meeting that the agenda for the upcoming high-level negotiations was supposed to be agreed upon. Without this, as one can easily guess, the main event in Budapest cannot take place. Thus, a tense pause has arisen. Meanwhile, 12 leaders of major European countries signed a joint statement on the Ukrainian settlement. The document generally provides for a freeze of the conflict. Donald Trump, for his part, indicates that he is not losing hope.
In fact, the main conclusion is that no one will hold a summit for the sake of a summit. Some agreed decisions are needed, which are currently absent. However, a more or less formulated peace plan from Europe and Ukraine has emerged, as well as an unofficial Russian document under the conditional title "territorial exchange" or, alternatively, "peace in exchange for Donbass." How to reconcile the positions of the parties today is unclear. This means that the military scenario remains predominant.
