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Five ways the Russia-Ukraine war could end
CNN ^ | Thu August 7, 2025 | Nick Paton Walsh

Posted on 08/07/2025 7:31:59 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican

A Trump-Putin meeting has been floated by both sides for some time. So why might either side want it to happen now?

US President Donald Trump wants to bring the force of his personality to bear on forging a deal, believing that six months of intransigence from Moscow might be overcome by meeting the Kremlin head face to face. He seems still to cling to the idea the Kremlin can be cajoled into stopping the war, despite his Russian counterpart recently suggesting the maximalist position that the Russian and Ukrainian people are one, and wherever a Russian soldier steps is Russia.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin wants to buy time, having already rejected a European, US and Ukrainian unconditional ceasefire proposal in May, offering instead two unilateral, short and inconsequential pauses. His forces are surging ahead on the front lines in a summer offensive that might bring him close enough to his goals that negotiations in the fall are over a very different status quo in the war.

If the two men do meet, one apparent American objective is a trilateral summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss an end to the war – the summit format Russia rejected in Istanbul in May. The Russian purpose is likely to allow Putin to drag Trump back into the orbit of Moscow’s narrative.

Still, a summit – floated before, delayed before – may happen this time, and it raises the question of how the war might end. Here are five possible scenarios:

1. Putin agrees to an unconditional ceasefire Highly unlikely. It’s improbable that Putin would agree to a ceasefire in which the front lines stay as they are – the United States, Europe and Ukraine already demanded such a pause in May, under the threat of sanctions, and Russia rejected it.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Ukraine
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1 posted on 08/07/2025 7:31:59 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican

Only one real way....

Trump withdraws all U.S. aid to the grifter zelensky and ukraine

Trump tells NATO/EU the ukraine war isn’t the U.S.A’s problem anymore, and if they want to support it, it’s on them


2 posted on 08/07/2025 7:39:17 PM PDT by backpacker_c
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To: MinorityRepublican

#6 - Prophesied by David Wilkerson in the 1970’s. Russia nukes the US, with the US (led by a liberal) not firing a single shot off in return. Europe immediately surrenders to Russia.


3 posted on 08/07/2025 7:44:36 PM PDT by aimhigh (1 John 3:23 "And THIS is His commandment . . . . ")
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To: MinorityRepublican
There are only three possibilities:

1) A peace deal is reached with the annexed territory being acknowledged as part of the Russian Federation.

2) With Russia taking everything east of the Dnieper river and, probably Odessa.

3) With Russia taking all over Ukraine.

4 posted on 08/07/2025 7:53:59 PM PDT by Kazan
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To: aimhigh

“#6 - Prophesied by David Wilkerson in the 1970’s. Russia nukes the US, with the US (led by a liberal) not firing a single shot off in return. Europe immediately surrenders to Russia.”

Not too crazy about the US part, but the European part would be an IMPROVEMENT from what’s coming at them (due to their idiocy).


5 posted on 08/07/2025 8:08:02 PM PDT by BobL (If you're over 50 and still eat carbs, expect to become diabetic)
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To: MinorityRepublican

Seems CNN has missed the most probable resolution to the conflict in its list of options


6 posted on 08/07/2025 8:11:17 PM PDT by rdcbn1 (..when poets buy guns, tourist season is over................Walter R. Mead.)
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To: BobL

That is not going to happen


7 posted on 08/07/2025 8:12:12 PM PDT by rdcbn1 (..when poets buy guns, tourist season is over................Walter R. Mead.)
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To: BobL

Now how does Wilkerson explain the USA not firing off a single shot in return for a nuclear attack?

We would clearly “win” any nuclear war, with anyone. Russia or China could devastate our country, but qualitatively they cannot approach our weapons and delivery skill. Whatever devastation we suffered would be that and far more to the attacker.

Why does he say we would not fire a shot?


8 posted on 08/07/2025 8:16:57 PM PDT by DesertRhino (When men on the chessboard, get up and tell you where to go…)
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To: rdcbn1

“That is not going to happen”

I agree, they won’t be that lucky, they’re HOSED.


9 posted on 08/07/2025 8:17:18 PM PDT by BobL (If you're over 50 and still eat carbs, expect to become diabetic)
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To: Kazan

4) The areas occupied by Russia become a Russian Client State, which functions as a Buffer state


10 posted on 08/07/2025 8:17:38 PM PDT by Fai Mao (I used to care, but things have changed ~ Bob Dylan)
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To: BobL

” Europe immediately surrenders to Russia.””

There would simply be no Russians for Europe to surrender to.


11 posted on 08/07/2025 8:17:51 PM PDT by DesertRhino (When men on the chessboard, get up and tell you where to go…)
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To: DesertRhino

Sorry, but I kind of doubt that we ‘win’ any serious nuclear war against Russia and/or China. If nothing else, the fallout circling the planet alone will wipe us out. Maybe 1% of Americans survive for a year, and then it’s downhill from there.


12 posted on 08/07/2025 8:20:22 PM PDT by BobL (If you're over 50 and still eat carbs, expect to become diabetic)
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To: All

Maybe it’s not a surprise that there has been a collective avalanche of refusal to accept the Witkoff proposals splashed this morning. The US proposed an outcome and Russia accepted it.

And now, nothing.


13 posted on 08/07/2025 8:28:06 PM PDT by Owen
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To: MinorityRepublican
Five ways the Russia-Ukraine War could end:
1. Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye, Kherson, and Crimea
2. Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Crimea, and Kharkov
3. Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Crimea, Kharkov, and Dnipropetrovsk
4. Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Crimea, Kharkov, Dnipropetrovsk, and Nikolaev
5. Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Crimea, Kharkov, Dnipropetrovsk, Nikolaev, and Odessa
14 posted on 08/07/2025 8:46:44 PM PDT by Always A Marine ("When you strike at a king, you must kill him" - Ralph Waldo Emerson)
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To: backpacker_c

You are incredibly naive if you think that will end the war.

Essentially, from a cost standpoint, almost all the direct monetary cost to the gov’t of the USA, except a small amount of humanitarian humanitarian aid is already being shifted to the Euros. Trump seems plenty willing to sell them weapons.

The Euros, for their part of it, have plenty of money available to counter the Russians, and in ways (better tech, AI, etc.) that don’t burn a lot of Ukrainian manpower. Whether the Euros understand how to apply that, remains to be seen.

IMO, this likely turns into an immense, high tech, ugly guerilla war with no end in sight, unless Putin is willing to commit an actual large scale genocide. Granted that Russian leaders have done it before.

However, the Euros may (possibly with help from the US if Trump is serious about minimizing the length of the war) get the Ukies the AI and stealth tech(s) for Ukraine to take out all or essentially all of Russia’s refinery distillation towers. That sort of thing would be disastrous for most any country, but Russia is in one of the worst positions of any country in the world to run short of refined products. It would simply grind to a halt.

To stop the supply of refined products to Ukraine, already coming in through a much diffused network, Russia would have to hit many targets in NATO countries. It is very unlikely Russia would risk that - the Euros would get seriously serious about the war. Russia already faces a huge long term problem if Euro-NATO only gets to ~4% of GDP for defense. Again IMO, I have trouble seeing Euro-NATO getting to 5% across the board, but somewhere near 4% on average is likely feasible, esp. if the USA comes through on energy supply (and you know Trump will push that.)

I will say again though that high defense spending by Euro-NATO is, in the long run, incredibly dangerous. Europe has a thin veneer of its own style of civilization, but underneath that, Europe is still Europe, and power attained tends to get used eventually. OTOH, for the last 70 years+ or so, the USA has been historically unusual in how little it uses its vast power, when you get right down to it.


15 posted on 08/07/2025 9:21:35 PM PDT by Paul R. (Old Viking saying: "Never be more than 3 steps away from your weapon ... or a Uriah Heep song!" ;-))
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To: Always A Marine

If I had my choice it would be 5

And this is from a genetic ukranian by my father that 100% ukraian

Enoch of this global homos and the blood thursty neocons and most of the left.

In reality the answer IMO would be # 2 right now. But if they want to keep going it would landlock the ukis. but if it got to be that bad NATO Troops would have to be sent into the meat grounder but the EU would never to that. NATO has a lot of vietos. Created a force of about 50 nations to fend them off on Russia alone. Something is stinking in Denmark here.


16 posted on 08/07/2025 9:29:37 PM PDT by medical conservative
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To: Fai Mao

Please explain how that buffer state is not incredibly porous to stealthy drones, medium and long range, with AI tech / navigation, and how a remainder of Ukraine far too weak to counter Russia (one of Putin’s demands) subdues its own partisans with those drones?

Israel’s efforts to defeat the Palis are in the long run a snap compared to this.

FWIW, an old friend of mine who used to design the stuff for TI’s Defense Division thinks the Ukies are a year away at most from production of “fairly smart” drones that can launch loitering HARM missiles. (Most of it is 30+ year old tech.)


17 posted on 08/07/2025 9:36:26 PM PDT by Paul R. (Old Viking saying: "Never be more than 3 steps away from your weapon ... or a Uriah Heep song!" ;-))
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To: MinorityRepublican

People are setting expectations way to high for this meeting. There won’t be a peace agreement coming out of it.


18 posted on 08/07/2025 9:46:28 PM PDT by McGruff
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To: medical conservative

Anyone who brings up “homos” in the discussion can be discounted as not a serious person (except for their own phobias), or they are just repeating what Putin’s tools think other potential Putin tools might listen to.

(I’m not “pro homo”, I just think that has little to do with the cultural and societal aspects / changes in Ukraine that are the root cause(s) of Russia’s invasion. Ukraine has been moving “West”, but is hardly a bastion of homosexuality.)

In any event, “5” only happens if Putin genocides many millions of Ukrainians. If you think the Palestinians are difficult for Israel, you “ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”


19 posted on 08/07/2025 9:54:29 PM PDT by Paul R. (Old Viking saying: "Never be more than 3 steps away from your weapon ... or a Uriah Heep song!" ;-))
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To: McGruff

I suspect you are correct.


20 posted on 08/07/2025 9:55:33 PM PDT by Paul R. (Old Viking saying: "Never be more than 3 steps away from your weapon ... or a Uriah Heep song!" ;-))
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