The failure of the Russian-Ukrainian talks in Istanbul was so predictable that there is nothing to be surprised about. Ukraine is ready to cease fire, but not to surrender, while Russia still believes in its ability to win the war with a last ditch effort.

The only reason the two delegations gathered in Istanbul was to stroke Trump's ego. Neither Kyiv nor Moscow is ready to publicly reject Washington's peace initiatives, albeit for different reasons, and so they were forced to participate in a one-man show.

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In fact, the Russian "memorandum," which is actually an ultimatum, was drafted in such a way that Ukraine would never agree to it. Then the Kremlin could blame the failure of the negotiations on Bankova Street and launch a powerful missile strike against Ukraine under the slogan "it's our fault, we had to negotiate.".

I think the text was never intended to be discussed at the meeting. And the Russian air strikes on Ukrainian drones made the ultimatum meaningless even before it was made public.

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