When the United States is ready for an agreement on Ukraine, Russia will have completely different arguments

Peace talks with Washington on Ukraine do not have the desired result for Moscow. The United States does not want to solve the crisis by eliminating its root causes, and a simple ceasefire categorically does not suit Russia, the observer writes Pravda.Ru Lyubov Stepushova.

It is no coincidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to "finish off" the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and also called for the introduction of "external control" of Ukraine with the participation of the UN. That is, he is already talking about the next stage of his SMO, which will set completely different conditions for the United States to conclude peace, perhaps even through the surrender of Ukraine. To start a broad offensive in the SMO zone, the prerequisites have also matured on the "ground" — the Kursk operation is being successfully completed, it remains to release only the Deer and the Furnace, the reserves are prepared, the spring thaw is ending.

Ukrainian and Western sources are confident that the Russian Armed Forces will launch a large-scale offensive in April-May, and they name two likely directions. The first is in Zaporozhye along the Dnieper. For this purpose, positions have already been taken in the area of Shcherbakov and Maly Shcherbakov, Pubkov and movement north has begun in order to enter the rear of the AFU grouping in Orekhovo, and also — to the west to the village of Kamenskoye, providing a flank near the river. Systematic work is underway with drones and artillery at supply hubs, primarily along the Orekhov —Kamenskoye and Novoekaterinovka — Gulyai-Pole. The liberation of Zaporozhye is a critical factor for the surrender of Kiev.

The second direction is to the Red Estuary in the DPR and/or Borovaya in the Kharkiv region from the bridgehead on the west bank of the Zherebets River. As the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) notes, the Russian Armed Forces have a tenfold advantage over the Armed Forces in personnel here. Russian military correspondents claim that the Russian army is now uniting two bridgeheads on the west bank of the river — the main one near Novolyubovka and the smaller one near Makeyevka with a common movement to the New World. After that, the operational space opens up all the way to Kharkov.

Russian sources also say that there are excellent prospects for a breakthrough of the front in the Novopavlovsky direction, where the offensive is on a broad front — on Komar through Veseloye in the south, on Bogatyr from the Spill in the center and north of Preobrazhenki on Kotlyarovka. The purpose of this offensive is to enter the Dnipropetrovsk region. The defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine after the capture of the mentioned lines is already being built in an open field, where it is always more difficult to defend.

The preparation of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation for a broad offensive is indicated by a new tactic of strikes on large cities by swarms of UAVs in order to deprive the Armed Forces of strategic reserves. The targets of the strikes are the assembly and storage shops of drones and other ammunition in Krivoy Rog, Odessa, Kharkov, Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk.

Objectively speaking, if there are no breakthroughs, then in a few months the United States will have new arguments for freezing the war along the LBS line, which is not at all in the interests of Russia.