'“Powerful lessons from Ukraine’s own past, as well as its neighbors’ history and present, have taught Ukrainians that Moscow can’t be trusted,” Andreas Umland, an analyst at the Stockholm Center for Eastern European Studies at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, wrote in Politico.''In remarks since the invasion, [Putin] has said more of the same, giving no indication that his goals -- which go beyond Ukraine -- have changed.
Putin’s “mission” is “to redraw the world map with the borders that he and his ideologists call ‘historical Russia,’” Andrei Kolesnikov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, wrote in Novaya Gazeta Europe.
No wonder Kyiv is wary of negotiations -- and might remain so if Putin’s rule were to come to an end.
“Powerful lessons from Ukraine’s own past, as well as its neighbors’ history and present, have taught Ukrainians that Moscow can’t be trusted,” Andreas Umland, an analyst at the Stockholm Center for Eastern European Studies at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, wrote in Politico. “And according to their experience and comparative analysis, if the Russian state exists in its current form, it will not engage in sincere negotiations, or sign a peace deal in good faith.”
Of course, it’s impossible to say for sure how a country will act in the future, even the very near future. But in the present, since the full-bore invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there have been plenty of signs that Putin is not ready to scale down his goals.'
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The Week In Russia: Off-Ramps And Obsessions, August 4, 2023
Context(Ukraine needs ATACMs) - Russians See Ukrainian Progress Where Others Don’t