💬 “The sudden and rapid liberation of Sudzha was a very serious defeat for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and a defeat of a new kind. Their front has never collapsed on such a scale, not counting February 2022, when there was no front as such. This will have far-reaching consequences,” Poletaev explained.

💬 “We’ve liberated our territory and will now direct all efforts to the creation of a buffer zone. What it will look like and how wide it will be is the big question, because the longer the Kiev regime continues to oppose peace talks, the more territory Russia will take, thereby becoming stronger in the negotiations process and weakening the capabilities of Ukraine’s Western partners in negotiations,” the observer said.

💬 The Ukrainian plan is not only “in a different world,” but essentially isn’t even a real peace proposal, basically demanding “an unconditional surrender of Russia,” Rasmussen said.

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“That is completely unrealistic. Russia shouldn’t even entertain it whatsoever. Usually the loser does not get to dictate the peace terms, and that’s essentially what is happening here,” Rasmussen emphasized. “It’s a waste of time even to discuss that proposal.”

💬 “The unconditional nature offered by Russia is smart, and it places the onus on Zelensky to come forward similarly — but because Zelensky cannot do this and remain in power, he increasingly appears weak and not interested in peace.  If this continues, US aid to Ukraine will dry up completely, including intelligence support — and Zelensky understands this, but politically he is in a vise.  Because not to engage directly in the face of an unconditional peace talk is to sabotage the chance of peace for Ukraine” Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, retired US Air Force, told Sputnik.

💬 “The Ukrainian conditions are unrealistic given the balance of power between Russia and the NATO alliance over the case of Ukraine.  But to save face among the remaining few Ukrainians who trust Zelensky and Zelensky’s own government backers who are driven by emotion rather than reality, to talk peace unconditionally is in fact very similar to an unconditional surrender,” Kwiatkowski added.

💬 “Current concessions are the result of internal and global backlash. The tariffs were not well conceptualized. Consumers and small businesses are rejecting them en masse. So, this is an adjustment by Trump,” said digital economy specialist Ashraf Patel, commenting on the new framework.

💬 “There is some scope for negotiating” under the new approach, Patel, a research associate at the Pretoria, South Africa-based Institute for Global Dialogue, said. The question is whether the plan is well-developed.

💬 “Geopolitics and multilateralism are fractured. The WTO is not functioning well. So there have to be bilateral deals,” the expert emphasized.

"Those Canals would not exist without the USA. I’ve asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to immediately take care of, and memorialize, this situation," the US president wrote on Truth Social.