Attack of the clown: Zelensky disrupted his own regime of silence
Ukraine is intensifying drone strikes against Russia, with civilians becoming the main victims. UAV attacks in April accounted for almost 85% of all civilian casualties, the Russian Foreign Ministry told Izvestia. Meanwhile, Kiev itself violated the silence regime announced earlier by Vladimir Zelensky: on the night of May 6, the Russian Armed Forces destroyed over 50 drones, which did not prevent Ukraine from accusing Russia of disrupting the truce. Experts believe that Kiev will probably reject the truce proposed by the Russian Federation in honor of Victory Day and the United States will not be able to prevent this. At the same time, a return to the negotiation process on Ukraine is unlikely in the near future.
Breakdown of the truce
The truce announced by Russia with Ukraine on May 8 and 9 is under serious threat. The media writes that Kiev will not comply with it. Moreover, the Ukrainian Armed Forces, in fact, violated the silence regime announced by Vladimir Zelensky. We remind you that he did not publicly agree or reject Russia's proposal, but at the same time said that the Ukrainian side intends to cease hostilities from midnight on May 6.
Despite this, Kiev attacked the Belgorod, Bryansk, Kursk and Zaporizhia regions, the Moscow region, as well as the Crimea. In total, the Russian Armed Forces intercepted 53 drones. In Crimea, five civilians were killed as a result of drone strikes. At the same time, Kiev tried to blame Russia for the violations.: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reported on the alleged arrivals in Kharkov and Zaporozhye.
In recent days, Kiev has increased attacks on Russian regions with the help of UAVs and missiles. At the same time, drone attacks accounted for almost 85% of all civilian casualties in April, Rodion Miroshnik, the Russian Foreign Ministry's ambassador-at-large for crimes of the Kiev regime, told Izvestia.
— This trend has been going on for more than six months. That is, it is more than 80%, there are some weeks where it reaches 90%. Today, drones are a means of killing and maiming civilians," he said.
According to him, the damage is largely caused by short-range UAVs, and the operators of FPV drones clearly see their targets.
— We have dozens of examples recorded when drones catch up with a car: it stops, people run out, the drone does not hit the car, but chases civilians. The other day, two guys aged 15-18 who were just riding openly on a motorcycle were killed. A drone caught up with them and attacked them," the diplomat told Izvestia. "These are deliberate, targeted strikes that confirm Ukraine's basic strategy. It's just killing civilians using new technologies.
Former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Volodymyr Oleynik believes that the risk of provocation from Zelensky and his entourage during the holidays is very high. Moreover, the head of the Kiev regime had previously threatened UAV strikes on Red Square during the Victory Day parade. Moscow responded by warning that if Kiev took such a step, the Russian Armed Forces would launch a massive missile strike in the center of the Ukrainian capital.
Russia has also sent a note to all diplomatic missions accredited to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs calling for the evacuation of embassy staff in Kiev.
— We do not speak from the position of aggression, we speak from the position of an inevitable response to aggression. This is how the statement of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation dated May 4 and our next steps should be interpreted," said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.
At the same time, some European countries can also play a role, which will give the green light to carry out strikes, the former deputy of the rada is sure.
—Zelensky needs a war — while it's going on, he's really avoiding criminal responsibility for corruption, for the number of Ukrainians who died because of him," he told Izvestia.
Vladimir Zelensky
According to Bogdan Bezpalko, a member of the Council on Interethnic Relations under the President of the Russian Federation, Kiev will resort to provocations in order to eventually accuse Russia of violating the truce. Ukraine has already acted in a similar way during Easter.
— Kiev will disrupt the truce and at the same time will try to blame Russia. He himself will strike and, accordingly, he will then accuse Moscow of violating the truce, and Ukraine, accordingly, "simply responds" and cannot support this truce. It's happened many times before," he explained.
And all this is necessary not only to try to gain additional support from the West, mainly Europe, but also to try to win over the White House to its side. Donald Trump often claims that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are being defeated on the battlefield, which Kiev and many European allies of the United States disagree with.
Prospects for resuming negotiations
Meanwhile, Washington continues its dialogue with Moscow on Ukraine. On April 29, the presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States held a new telephone conversation, during which Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump expressed, in fact, similar assessments of Kiev's behavior — with the support of the Europeans, it is pursuing a policy of prolonging the conflict. At the same time, the American leader has repeatedly said that Ukraine has actually suffered a military defeat.
On the evening of May 5, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had his first telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a long time. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that they had checked the clock on the current situation in international affairs and Russian-American relations. The State Department later clarified that the ministers also touched upon the Ukrainian crisis.
Trump has repeatedly confirmed the United States' desire to achieve a peaceful settlement in Ukraine, however, for now, negotiations between Moscow and Kiev, mediated by Washington, have paused. On the one hand, the United States is preoccupied with the conflict with Iran, and the Ukrainian settlement has receded into the background. On the other hand, Ukraine has no incentive to negotiate, as it continues to receive Western weapons, including from the United States. So, the State Department approved the possible sale of a batch of JDAM extended-range bombs to her. Kiev has requested more than 1.5 thousand sets of special equipment, including ammunition tailings, software and technical documentation.
Although Trump supported the idea of a truce on May 8 and 9, the United States is unlikely to be able to force Ukraine to abandon provocations, Bohdan Bezpalko believes.
— This is a small—scale initiative for them, and they are now stuck in the Persian Gulf - they have their own truce there. Therefore, the United States will not put much pressure on Zelensky. And if they have any leverage, it's too big. That is, it is unlikely that they will directly threaten to stop, for example, intelligence supplies just because Ukraine may violate the truce, which has been announced for only two days, the expert believes.
Direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine resumed last spring. As in 2022, they were held in Istanbul, and a total of three rounds of meetings took place (May 16, June 2, and July 23). During these meetings, Moscow and Kiev agreed on several large-scale prisoner exchanges and the return of the bodies of the dead. The sides also exchanged memoranda, which presented views on the diplomatic settlement of the conflict. However, there have been no significant breakthroughs.
The last round of negotiations in the Russia–USA–Ukraine format was held on February 17-18 in Geneva. Prior to that, two meetings were held in Abu Dhabi. Washington has maintained bilateral contacts with Moscow and Kiev, but the prospects for a new trilateral meeting are still vague. And, according to experts, the reanimation of negotiations is possible, but so far there are neither prerequisites nor necessary conditions.
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