“... all Putin need do is proclaim that Russia has no territorial claims on Ukraine and that all Russian troops will withdraw”
Feel free to give his information any interpretation you choose too. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
I don’t share yours because I have followed every bit of this intensely right from the beginning and became aware that after the West sunk the Moskva, Putin came to the realization that this wasn’t just a conflict between Ukraine and Russia over Russian speaking people in the Donbass as originally envisioned, but a deliberate US/NATO instigated proxy war to weaken Russia and create regime change.
Frankly, it appears to me, Putin was slow to catch on. Not only has this been the policy of the U.S (CIA, deep state) for many years, but in this specific instance if you read the article carefully you will see that Zelensky in 2021 put in effect a plan to retake Crimea and sent AZOV troops to the Donbass for that purpose. The author also points out that it was the Ukrainian forces (AZOV) that began intensively shelling beginning Feb. 16th (a week before Russia entered Ukraine.)
Ukraine is a puppet state that we bought and paid for with the express purpose of pressuring Russia and Zelensky does exactly what we tell him to do. Biden has specifically stated that we want regime change (though his handlers had to walk it back...he said the quiet part out loud.) Austin publicly said we want to “weaken Russia.”
After all of the above Putin changed his original plans and Russian authorities have now promised the people in the territories that Russia has “liberated” that “Russia will be there forever.”
The proxy war (both economic and military) is on. We will see how it turns out; but so far to me it looks like a catastrophic failure on our part. Russia is winning militarily and so far suffering very little economically. On the other hand, we are in the beginning stages of a freefall.