timelets

WASHINGTON—U.S. national-security officials said Wednesday that Ukraine didn’t target Russian President Vladimir Putin or one of his residences in a recent drone strike, challenging Moscow’s assertion that Kyiv sought to kill the Russian leader.

That conclusion is supported by a Central Intelligence Agency assessment that found no attempted attack against Putin had occurred, according to a U.S. official briefed on the intelligence.

Ukraine was looking to strike a military target that Kyiv had hit before, located in the same region as Putin’s country residence but not close by, the U.S. official said.

https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/u-s-finds-ukraine-didnt-target-putin-in-drone-strike-615ce4be

Сначала «линия дискуссии» сдвинулась с рубежа «Украина + Европа + Америка» против «России» на рубеж «Америка + Россия» с одной стороны против «Европа + Украина» - с другой, а теперь деградировала до противостояния Америки с Европой в формате «один на один».

Соответственно, все теперь упирается в (не)предательство Европы.

Предаст – война закончится (на этом этапе). Не предаст – продолжится. Ждем «момента истины», который, увы, по иронии истории очередной раз может оказаться «моментом предательства».

https://t.me/v_pastukhov/1733

Как пишет z-автор Максим Калашников, с «прорывом» у российской армии не вышло:

«Прорыв севернее Покровска начинают ликвидировать. О причинах писал ранее. В общем, ни в тыл Славянску не зашли, ни Покровск в котел не взяли. Ну, профи таки, профгенералы...

Пошли пятые сутки с момента прорыва севернее Покровска. Увы, развала фронта ВСУ тут не случилось, что было бы эффектно к началу встречи в Анкоридже. Оно и понятно: тут критическую роль играет скорость развития успеха, ввода в прорыв больших сил. Сего не сделали. Локальную воздушную операцию по изоляции района БД не провели. По ЦПР врага, чтобы его дезорганизовать, не ударили. И ВСУ локализовали прорыв, успели подтянуть резервы. Котёл в Покровске не создали, уйдя в сторону.

В общем, принципиально прорывного ничего не случилось. Война продолжается в режиме кровавой «волынки».
https://t.me/ve4niyvoy/4758

Mr. Trump, who is in the Middle East, first said he might take a side trip to Turkey if peace talks took place. But after Mr. Putin bugged out, Mr. Trump tried to smooth over the embarrassment by saying “nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together.”

It’s closer to reality to say that nothing is going to happen until Mr. Putin feels he has an incentive to show up and negotiate. Mr. Putin’s no-show is the latest evidence that the Russian isn’t serious about ending the war, and it’s no surprise. Mr. Putin thinks Mr. Trump might abandon Ukraine and make it easier for him to keep taking Ukrainian territory.

Mr. Trump has made a sincere effort to broker an end to the war, but the President looks worse the longer Mr. Putin talks peace but prosecutes the war. Mr. Trump doesn’t want the world to see him looking like a supplicant to the Kremlin.


https://www.wsj.com/opinion/vladimir-putin-no-show-peace-talks-ukraine-russia-donald-trump-marco-rubio-df3fc6a6

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/04/22/trumps-plan-to-let-putin-keep-land-seized-from-ukraine/


Donald Trump will let Vladimir Putin keep almost all the territory he has seized from Ukraine under the terms of a proposed peace deal.

The condition is part of a seven-point plan to end the war that leaves Ukraine with no clear US security guarantee.

The Trump administration’s peace proposal involves the US offering formal recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea and implies de facto recognition of other occupied territories.

A source with knowledge of the plan’s contents said that its points one and two cover an immediate ceasefire and direct talks between Ukraine and Russia, which Mr Zelensky has already accepted in principle.

Point three requires Ukraine to refrain from seeking membership of Nato, though the country would still be free to join the EU.

European countries could deploy an assurance force to deter Putin from invading again, but The Telegraph understands that the plan does not commit the US to guarantee the security of any such deployment.

Point four covers territory, with America offering de jure recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea, the region of Ukraine which Putin illegally annexed in 2014.

Recognising Russian control of Crimea would violate a central principle of international law – and of the post-1945 world order – that no country can annex the territory of another. If land is seized then no nation is supposed to recognise this change.


As well as some territory switching hands to Ukraine, the nuclear power station at Zaporizhzhia, the largest in Ukraine and currently held by Russian forces, would be transferred to American control.

Under point six, Ukraine would sign the minerals deal allowing US companies access to the country’s natural resources.

Point seven raises the possibility of a new relationship between America and Russia, saying that all US sanctions would be lifted and the two countries could begin to co-operate on energy.

The plan contradicts several of Britain’s stated policy objectives. As recently as Feb 14, the Prime Minister told Mr Zelensky that Britain was committed to “Ukraine being on an irreversible path to Nato” membership. This proposal would block that path indefinitely.

Moscow has accused US President Joe Biden's outgoing administration of working against the plans of President-elect Donald Trump to resolve the war in Ukraine.

"During the election campaign, Trump talked about wanting to make peace in some way and was leading everyone down a peaceful path," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian television.

"And now they are doing everything they can to escalate the situation in such a way that peace agreements are doomed to failure," Peskov said on the political news show Moscow. Kremlin. Putin.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-undermining-trumps-peaceful-path-212712545.html

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a linchpin of U.S. space efforts, has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin since late 2022.

The discussions, confirmed by several current and former U.S., European and Russian officials, touch on personal topics, business and geopolitical tensions.

At one point, Putin asked the billionaire to avoid activating his Starlink satellite internet service over Taiwan as a favor to Chinese leader Xi Jinping, said two people briefed on the request.
...
In October 2022, he asked his tens of millions of followers on X to vote on a pathway to peace that mirrored some aspects of the Kremlin’s offer to Ukraine at the time.

Those conditions included continued Russian occupation of Crimea and Ukrainian neutrality outside of NATO. He also specified that Ukraine should continue allowing the supply of water to Crimea, an issue that had been an important concern of the Kremlin before the war.

Earlier this year, Musk gave airtime to Putin and his views on the U.S. and Ukraine when X carried Tucker Carlson’s two-hour interview with the Russian leader inside the Kremlin. In that interview, Putin said he was sure Musk “was a smart person.”

https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/musk-putin-secret-conversations-37e1c187

During the same interview, however, Vance suggested a proposal to end the war in Ukraine worth discussing: that the fighting stop where both sides’ troops are currently on the battlefield and a fortified demilitarized zone set up to prevent Russia from invading again. Ukraine would be guaranteed its sovereignty in exchange for its territory occupied by Russia and its neutrality—that is, it would not be admitted to NATO. Finally, Vance argues that Germany would need to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/j-d-vances-point-of-departure-for-peace-in-ukraine/