#Trump, since returning to the White House in January after promising a swift end to the #war, has sought to repair ties with #Russia, speaking at least 6 times by telephone with #Putin. On Monday, he said the Russian leader was not "an assassin, but he's a tough guy." [idiot. Putin is 100% an assassin.]
#Zelensky’s top brass, who acknowledge that Russian forces outnumber Ukraine's, say Kyiv's troops are holding the line & forcing #Russia to pay a heavy price for its gains.
The #US says 1.2 million people have been injured or killed in the #war, #Europe's deadliest conflict since the WWII. Neither Russia nor #Ukraine give full figures for their losses, & Moscow dismisses Western estimates as propaganda.
"#Russia will act based on Ukraine's weakness," the third source said, adding that Moscow might halt its offensive after conquering the 4 eastern regions of #Ukraine if it encounters stiff resistance. "But if it falls, there will be an even greater conquest of #Dnipropetrovsk, #Sumy & #Kharkiv."
#Zelensky has said Russia's summer offensive is not going as successfully as Moscow had hoped.
Putin's public position is that those first 5 regions – #Crimea & the 4 regions of eastern #Ukraine - are now part of #Russia & Kyiv must withdraw before there can be *peace*.
#Putin could fight on until Ukraine's defenses collapse & widen his territorial ambitions to include more of Ukraine, the sources said.
"Appetite comes with eating", the first source said, meaning that #Putin could seek more territory unless the #war was stopped. The 2 other sources independently confirmed the same.
#Russia currently controls #Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, plus all of the eastern region of #Luhansk, >70% of the %Donetsk, #Zaporizhzhia & #Kherson regions, & fragments of #Kharkiv, #Sumy & #Dnipropetrovsk regions.
2 of the sources said that #Russia has the upper hand on the battlefield & its #economy, geared towards #war, is exceeding the production of the #US led #NATO alliance in key munitions, like artillery shells.
Russia, which already controls nearly ⅕ of Ukrainian territory, has advanced some 1,415 square km (546 square miles) in the past 3 months….
President Volodymyr #Zelensky has said #Ukraine will never recognise #Russia's #sovereignty over its conquered regions & that Kyiv retains the sovereign right to decide whether it wants to join #NATO.…
A 2nd source familiar w/Kremlin thinking said that #Putin considered Moscow's goals far more important than any potential economic losses from Western pressure, & he was not concerned by #Trump’s threats to impose #tariffs on #China & #India for buying Russian #oil.
#Putin's conditions for *#peace* include a legally binding pledge that #NATO will not expand eastwards, Ukrainian neutrality & limits on its armed forces, protection for Russian speakers who live there, & acceptance of #Russia's territorial gains, the sources said.
He is also willing to *discuss* a #security guarantee for #Ukraine involving major powers, though it is far from clear how this would work, the sources said.
“#Putin values the relationship with #Trump” [I’m sure he does. He gets whatever he wants from the #IdiotInChief] “& had good discussions with Witkoff, but the interests of #Russia come above all else,”the person added.
Asked for a comment on the Reuters reporting, White House propagandist Anna Kelly blamed former President Joe #Biden [] for allowing the #war to erupt during his admin.
The 3 Russian sources, familiar with top-level Kremlin thinking, said #Putin will not stop the #war under pressure from the West & believes #Russia - which has survived the toughest #sanctions imposed by the West- can endure further economic hardship, including #Trump’s threatened #US #tariffs targeting buyers of Russian #oil.