We've covered this ground before, and it's worth remembering the timeline of such events:
- February 22, 2022 Vlad the Invader began his 2nd invasion of Ukraine (the first was in 2014).
- Early March, 2022 -- Israel's "Naftali Bennett had undertaken mediation efforts beginning in the first week of March 2022.
In a video interview with Israeli journalist Hanoch Daum on February 4, 2023, he spoke for the first time in detail about the process and the end of the negotiations.
This video interview is the basis of a detailed report in the Berliner Zeitung of February 6, 2023 - March 16, 2022, US Pres. Biden's supplemental ~$7 billion in military aid to Ukraine, ~$14 billion total, 1st commitment.
- March 29, 2022, The text of the Istanbul Communiqué included 10 proposals:
- The critical role of Americans is only alleged by Russia's paid agent, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who said in 2023:
- “At the peace negotiations in March 2022 in Istanbul with Rustem Umerov (then security advisor to Zelensky, now Ukrainian defense minister), the Ukrainians did not agree to peace because they were not allowed to.
They first had to ask the Americans about everything they discussed,” and continued:
“But at the end (of the peace negotiations) nothing happened.
My impression was that nothing could happen because everything else was decided in Washington.
That was fatal.”Paid Russian agent Schroeder claims Ukraine rejected Vlad the Invader's "peace deal" because of American interference.
The 100% more logical explanation is along these lines: Americans told Ukraine, "we will support your war against Vlad the Invader for as long as it takes. When you sign a peace deal with Vlad, then we Americans will stop sending you military & other aid."So the Ukrainian government decided 100% on its own to tell Vlad the Invader where to stick his peace deal.
- April 12, 2022 "the Neue Züricher Zeitung (NZZ) reported that the British government under Johnson is counting on a Ukrainian military victory.
Conservative Member of the House of Commons Alicia Kearns said, “We’d rather arm the Ukrainians to the teeth than give Putin a success.”
British Foreign Secretary (and later Prime Minister) Liz Truss professed in a keynote speech that “victory for Ukraine (…) is a strategic imperative for us all and therefore military support must be massively expanded”.Regardless of such brave talk, to my knowledge there was never an actual plan for Ukrainian victory.
- "April 26, 2022, meeting of defense ministers from NATO members and other countries convened by Austin in Ramstein, Rhineland-Palatinate/ Germany, the Pentagon chief declared the military victory of Ukraine as a strategic goal."
Regardless of whatever brave talk we heard from Defense Secretary Austin, the fact remains there was never an actual plan for Ukrainian victory, so far as I know.
- May 21, 2022 US committed another ~$20 in military aid, ~$40 billion total, 2nd committment.
- June 30, 2022 US Pres. Biden was first reported to promise support to Ukraine, "for as long as it takes" -- though I remember that pledge coming much earlier, in April.
Regardless, there was apparently no actual plan for victory to back up such brave words. - September 30, 2022 US adds another $7 billion in military aid, $12 billion total, 3rd commitment.
We read this report from the Moscow Times, dated September 14, 2022, over a year ago:
- "Russian President Vladimir Putin had rejected a potential deal with Ukraine offered by his key envoy in the early days of the invasion as he “expanded” his goals to include annexing more territory, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing three unnamed sources close to Russia's leadership.
Kremlin deputy chief of staff Dmitry Kozak, Putin’s chief envoy on Ukraine, was said to have secured a deal guaranteeing that Ukraine would not join NATO — a key Russian demand prior to its full-scale invasion of its pro-Western neighbor.
According to Reuters, Putin made clear that Kozak’s deal with an unspecified number of Ukrainian concessions did not go far enough.
Putin reportedly “expanded his objectives to include annexing swathes of Ukrainian territory,” Reuters reported. “Everything was canceled.
Putin simply changed the plan as he went along,” one of Reuters’ sources was quoted as saying."
- "The Kremlin denied the Reuters report’s authenticity, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling the British news agency that “No such thing ever happened.”
The report comes as Ukraine, riding on the success of a lightning counteroffensive in its northeast and south, has signaled no interest in new talks with Russia.
While Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said this week that Moscow does not oppose talks with Ukraine, ex-President Dmitry Medvedev called for “the total surrender of the Kyiv regime on Russia’s terms” in a social media post."