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Posted on 05/15/2025 5:22:25 PM PDT by Mariner
Peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine failed to start as planned on Thursday after the two presidents did not turn up and barbs were traded from afar.
Hopes for an end to the over three-year war looked forlorn as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed he will not take part in the Istanbul talks, which now look set to begin on Friday if at all.
Zelensky had demanded that Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin be present at the negotiations in Turkey's biggest city and labelled Moscow's negotiating team as second rate.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, also not in Istanbul, referred to Zelensky as a "pathetic fellow," according to the Russian state-run news agency TASS, as rancour threatened to override any meaningful progress.
Even US President Donald Trump was far from optimistic.
"Look, nothing's going to happen until Putin and I get together, OK?" he told reporters aboard Air Force One during a flight from Qatar to the United Arab Emirates.
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
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Pathetic.
You want to end the war, you cut off Ukraine. It's the only real, credible leverage you have.
That is leverage we do not really have.
We have the Vietnam option. Increase support until the other side comes to the table.
Anther Afghanistan debacle is political suicide !
This former homoerotic performer making demands of Putin and insulting the Russian negotiating team…is gonna cost his country more lives and territory.
Yep. Which is why Trump wont abandon Ukraine even though he's not happy about the stalemate.
“We have the Vietnam option. Increase support until the other side comes to the table.”
...just to see our side defeated anyway.
But I agree, that is what the Neocons want for Trump, to see him take over Biden’s war, and then get HUMILIATED by the Russians.
After all, they ALWAYS hated Trump...just think of John Bolton if you doubt me.
Did anyone really expect anything to come of these talks?
Ukraine only wants to discuss that 30 day ceasefire, which Russia already naturally rejected. The Ukrainians have said they won’t discuss anything else. What is the point of talking in such a case?
Neither Putin nor Zelensky wants peace.
I’d hate to try to work with either one of them on diplomatic initiatives.
It’s not a social occasion.
What is needed is an agreement both sides can sign off on. A long-term agreement is going to be easier to work out as risks are reduced over a mere short-term ceasefire.
The Russian Foreign Ministry must come up with terms it and Putin want.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry must come up with terms it and Zelensky want.
Then the foreign ministries must reach a compromise....
Yes, that makes these Z-man "talks" a farce.
No kidding?
“You want to end the war, you cut off Ukraine”
???
“you cut off Ukraine”
The support Ukraine receives should be a function of Ukrainian reasonableness and Russian malice.
The only thing that has been farcical is continuing tp try to get 2 screaming babies from 2nd World Nations to atop slaughtering eachother when they continue to act like screaming babies!
When Linda Graham showed up, it was going to be a clown show.
Vladimir Putin ”On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians“
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