Trump had painted himself into a corner and needed to get himself out before the deadline he himself imposed.wojtek wrote: Fri Aug 08, 2025 7:14 pm A few days ago, I read information that the Kremlin
is confident it will achieve its goals within three months,
as it now has a significant advantage. In this situation,
it's obviously not interested in a quick agreement,
but rather in stalling for time. Vitkov, probably unrealistic,
portrayed the situation and his talks in Moscow in rosy tones,
and now they're being corrected.
He sent Witkoff on a hopeless mission that Trump talked up then let down to give himself an extension.
Russia is keen on a quick agreement but on their terms not Zelensky's. Zelensky won't come to terms so long as the money keeps flowing and the Europeans will bankrupt themselves trying to keep it flowing because keeping the conflict going is the only thing keeping the Americans in Europe.
Russia won't achieve their goals in 90 days but the Ukrainian army may well be in chaos by then. At some point the Russians will stop moving west, the Dnieper river or the old Novorossiya borders, any further west is a hostile population so that's where the conflict will freeze.
By then Zelensky should be gone and a Ukraine government in place able to strike a deal for at least a temporary peace. The US and European neocons will continue to lust after Russia's natural resources but there'll be not much they can do about it by then (unless they've got a dirty trick up their sleeve).
