Putin openly requires a complete surrender of Ukraine for ceasefire - isw

This is stated in the report of the Institute of War Study (ISW), which stresses that in this way the President of the Russian Federation demands that Ukraine actually capitulate. It is noted that at the Shanhai Collaboration Organization (SCO) in Kazakhstan Astana Putin commented on the prospects for the negotiation ceasefire. And instead of expressing his typical seeming interest in such negotiations, he directly rejected any process of negotiations on ceasefire.

The report states that Putin has repeatedly portrayed the event as his predictable partner on the ceasefire agreement to encourage the event to make concessions in the "Ukrainian issue", but now the Kremlin head has rejected all parties as possible intermediaries for an agreement between Ukraine and Russia.

Putin, the analysts say, also rejected the Verkhovna Rada as a possible contact point for negotiations, despite the fact that he had previously stated that this body is the only legal Ukrainian entity with which Russia can negotiate.

Putin now considers all Ukrainian government institutes illegitimate or unfit for negotiations and rejected the idea of ​​participation of third parties in negotiations-in fact, rejecting any realistic process of meaningful negotiations on the ceasefire agreement. Instead, Putin emphasized his requirement for the "demilitarization" of Ukraine as a key prerequisite for any ceasefire agreement, demanding that Kiev would agree to "demilitarization" measures that would become "irreversible".

Putin argued that Russia could not allow the Ukrainian military to use the cessation of fire to restore its forces. Putin, in particular, did not mention almost complete confidence that the Russian forces use the potential cessation of fire in this way. ISW continues to estimate that Russia would use a "rest" to restore and expand its forces and further mobilize its defense-industrial base for future aggression aimed at destroying the Ukrainian state.

Putin's refusal of any ceasefire agreement, except for Ukraine's surrender, illustrates, ISW analysts say that he is convinced of his assessment that Russia can achieve victory, continuing slow promotion in Ukraine, experiencing Western support of Ukraine and winning war on exhaustion. We will remind, earlier analysts of the Institute of War Study noted that Vladimir Putin believes that he will be able to win the war for exhaustion, if he delayed hostilities in Ukraine for an indefinite time.