The Not-Yet-A-Ceasefire
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On the upside, this is negotiation. On the downside, the next Russian ask is a big one:
President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia agreed on Tuesday during a phone call with President Trump to halt strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, the Kremlin said in a statement, but restated his concerns about a broader 30-day cease-fire that the United States and Ukraine had agreed upon and proposed to Russia.
The result seemed to fall short of what Mr. Trump had been hoping for in his outreach to Moscow, after several days of optimistic-sounding pronouncements from the White House that peace was within reach.
During the call, Mr. Putin said his “key condition” to end the conflict and prevent it from escalating was a “complete cessation” of foreign military and intelligence assistance to Kyiv, the Kremlin said.
Pause in energy grid attacks comes as the weather is getting warmer in Ukraine, so I’m not sure how much of a concession it actually is. The cessation of support is big… and of course Trump broadcast that it was something he was willing to do as a result of his tantrum against Zelensky.
Photo Credit: By Dmitriy Pichugin – http://www.airliners.net/photo/Russia—Air/Sukhoi-Su-27SKM/1014282/L/, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17361534