Don’t Expect Russia to End Fighting in Ukraine 

The Russians are being quite forthcoming at least on these issues regardless of how many bilateral or multilateral meetings are held about ending Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

Earlier Putin told President Trump that he won’t end the war until Kyiv capitulates and surrenders Donbas.

Now Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has emphasized like others before him that Russia will never stop fighting in Ukraine despite European leaders’ calls for an immediate ceasefire. Lavrov explained that an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine would, in the words of the Kremlin’s playbook, mean “preserving the Nazi regime” and “banning the Russian language,” according to RAI Novosti and TASS as reported by Ukrayinska Pravda.

After more than three years of fighting in Ukraine, a Russian leader has resurrected the debunked Kremlin claim of Nazis ruling Ukraine. Moscow used this ruse to substantiate its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In the course of the war no one found any Nazis in the Ukrainian government. However, more than 1 million killed Russian rapists and cutthroats have littered the Ukrainian countryside.

As for banning the Russian language, at least half of Ukraine speaks Russian at a time when Ukrainian is the official language of Ukraine. On the other hand, Ukrainians and their language are persecuted if not banned in Russia.

Lavrov told gullible journalists listening to him: “A ceasefire now would mean only one thing – that a vast part of Ukraine remains under the control of a Nazi regime. It would be the only place on Earth where an entire language is legally banned, not to mention that it is an official UN language and spoken by the majority of the population.” 

He also denounced European leaders, who genuinely supported Ukraine and President Zelenskyy that his “European patrons and masters…persuaded Washington to change its stance and avoid seeking a long-term settlement, instead opting to “simply stop and let history decide.”

Since the ill-fated Alaska summit, at which Putin turned down Trump’s insistence that he return to discussing peace, Russia stepped up its aerial attacks against Ukrainian towns and energy infrastructures and unarmed civilians.

Russia launched a large-scale air attack on Ukraine early Wednesday, October 22, that was reported by CNN and the AP, causing power outages across most of the country, setting homes ablaze and killing at least seven people, including a six-month-old baby, her 12-year-old sister and their mother, Ukrainian authorities said.

The attack, which involved drones, missiles and fighter jets, targeted vast swathes of the country, including the capital Kyiv, and came as the upcoming Budapest meeting was scrapped.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy said energy infrastructure, as well as “ordinary cities” were targeted in the attacks. The strikes had killed seven people and wounded 17 across Ukraine, he said.

Russian leaders have revealed their plan and proclaimed their goal: no let up in the fighting and re-subjugation of Ukraine and Ukrainians. Why then hasn’t President Trump recognized this?