The Daily Populous Saturday December 28th, 2024 morning edition
Authored by pravda.com.ua and submitted by Lion8330

Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) have indicated that Russian leader Vladimir Putin has dismissed a proposal for a potential peace plan being developed by the team of US President-elect Donald Trump.

Details: Analysts suggest that Putin has explicitly rejected a proposal considered by the Trump team to delay Ukraine's NATO membership for at least a decade as a condition for ending the war in Ukraine.

ISW points out that Putin responded on 26 December to a journalist's request for comment on the Trump team's proposal to delay Ukraine's NATO membership for 10 to 20 years.

The Kremlin leader said it did not matter whether Ukraine joined NATO "today, tomorrow or in 10 years".

Quote from ISW: "Putin's December 26 statement is part of a series of comments he has made recently reiterating his refusal to consider compromises on his late 2021 and early 2022 demands.

These demands include forcing Ukraine to become a permanently neutral state that will never join NATO, imposing severe limitations on the size of the Ukrainian military, and removing the Ukrainian government."

To quote the ISW’s Key Takeaways on 26 December:

Russian leader Vladimir Putin explicitly rejected a suggestion reportedly considered by US President-elect Donald Trump's team in early November 2024 that would delay Ukraine's membership in NATO for at least a decade as a condition for ending the war in Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated Putin's false claims that the current Ukrainian government is illegitimate and cannot be a legitimate negotiating partner for Russia.

Russian forces have likely seized Kurakhove following two months of intensified offensive operations aimed at seizing the settlement and eliminating the Ukrainian salient north and south of the settlement.

Russian forces may struggle to advance rapidly further west of Kurakhove along the H-15 Kurakhove-Pokrovske motorway should Ukrainian forces choose to defend in the Kurakhove Thermal Power Plant (TPP) and Russian forces fail to outflank Ukrainian positions in the TPP near Dachne or Ulakly.

Russian forces conducted a large series of missile and drone strikes targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure on the night of 24-25 December, seriously damaging thermal power plants.

Ukrainian forces conducted a successful strike on 25 December against the command post of a Russian unit operating in Kursk Oblast.

Ukrainian forces struck a Russian ammunition depot in Rostov Oblast and Russian defence industrial base (DIB) facilities in Rostov and Tambov oblasts on 25 and 26 December.

A Russian air defence system reportedly shot down an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 passenger aircraft over the Republic of Chechnya on 25 December, after which the plane crashed in Aktau, Kazakhstan.

Japan will provide Ukraine with US$3 billion in non-lethal assistance generated solely from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets.

Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Toretsk, and Russian forces recently advanced near Kupiansk, Toretsk, Pokrovsk and Velyka Novosilka.

Russian milbloggers acknowledged that the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) is attempting to monopolise crowdfunding efforts for the Russian military amid ongoing fallout from the deaths of two Russian drone operators in September 2024.

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flying_fox86 on December 27th, 2024 at 15:07 UTC »

> The Kremlin leader said it did not matter whether Ukraine joined NATO "today, tomorrow or in 10 years".

Okay, today it is then.

rustednut on December 27th, 2024 at 14:35 UTC »

What exactly are his objectives? Doesn't he realize that even if he wins the war he'll have to occupy a nation of about 20 million angry people? It'll be Afghanistan all over again except with people with access to better weapons

PlasticStain on December 27th, 2024 at 14:29 UTC »

It will be interesting to see how the US plays it now.