🚨🇷🇺🪖 Putin just sent a clear message to the West:
Set foot in Ukraine, and you're TOAST.
What does this mean for Ukraine peace efforts?
Experts weigh in: 🧵
1️⃣ RUSSIA’S BRIGHT RED LINE
Putin’s message is clear: foreign troops arriving in Ukraine to ‘guarantee peace’ will instantly “become a military target.”
Dmitry Suslov, a top foreign & defense policy expert, says the warning is "unambiguously clear."
2️⃣ WITHOUT RUSSIA, PEACE IS IMPOSSIBLE
Foreign deployments won’t be needed if a workable peace deal was reached (as they contradict Russia’s core demand of Ukrainian neutrality), making the whole discussion “somewhat surreal,” says strategic analyst Paolo Raffone.
3️⃣ BRUSSELS’ CLUELESSNESS
Europe’s ‘coalition of the willing’? No clarity on who's in, what they’re doing, or how they’ll do it.
Lack of interoperability, logistics, and weapons makes this “mission” a non-starter.
Besides, Brussels has no mandate to lead NATO or national forces.
4️⃣ DEPLOYMENT COULD DESTABILIZE EUROPE
Sending forces to Ukraine would be not only pose a “serious fiscal strain” on Europe’s already battered economy, but could trigger “political fragmentation” and the further rise of anti-war populists, crippling coalition members politically.
5️⃣ DON’T COUNT ON AMERICA
Europe is “well aware that European troops without sustained involvement and support by the US cannot confront Russia,” Raffone says.
Recent US actions (dialog with Russia, cuts to euro security programs) signal a desire to slowly bow out of the quagmire.
6⃣ TALKING TO ZELENSKY = POINTLESS
Putin made clear that Russia remains ready for talks, but can’t agree with the Zelensky regime on key issues.
That’s because so long as Ukraine remains a puppet of foreigners, its leadership will be forbidden from serious concessions, Suslov says.
7️⃣ WAY OUT?
Continued talks with the US, and inflicting more military defeats on Ukrainian forces on the battlefield.
“The more catastrophic it becomes, the less opportunities Kiev will have to sabotage the peace process. ”
8️⃣ FOR UKRAINE, FIGHTING ON MAKES NO SENSE
A recent Gallup poll shows 69% of Ukrainians favor a peace deal over fighting to the last man.
That makes Zelensky and Europe’s position “irrational,” Raffone says.
“How can they think to ‘save’ Ukraine without Ukrainians?”
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