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Originally Posted by Paul
That seems a bit of a self defeating threat, why would Russia care if they pull out ?
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They will pretend they don’t care, but the reality is that Ukraine is signalling that it knows what Russia’s next steps in the occupied south are likely to be (especially with regard to stunted-up referendums) and that it no longer believes that its best case resolution to the conflict lies in continuing talks. Furthermore, at present, further “peace” talks simply legitimise Russia’s war aims. Ukraine has participated in talks up to this point because it suited them as the victim to be seen to be acting reasonably in pursuit of peace.
Whatever Russia’s public response, privately they should be worried because this signals that Ukraine doesn’t see this ending with Russia in control of the territory it currently occupies. At the very least it might force them to consider trying to consolidate what they currently hold rather than continuing piecemeal advances that are doomed to fail because they simply don’t have enough resources in theatre to achieve their goals.
There is a school of thought that says Russia no longer sees its 9th May Victory Day celebrations as the day to declare operations in Ukraine complete, but rather as an inflection point around which Putin can rally the entire economy and population for an actual, declared war. If that’s the case then it’s likely to be in Ukraine’s interests to start putting serious pressure on Russian-held territory before they are able to ramp up their own resources.