Preview text: Moscow’s price isn’t just Ukrainian territory. It’s NATO back to 1997.
This week Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner sat down with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, then met President Zelenskyy.
There was one piece of genuine good news: Zelenskyy says the largest prisoner exchange of the war is coming, agreed in principle earlier in the week though Moscow says the terms are still being worked out.
Everything else is a non-starter: Ukraine asked for a pause in Russian strikes on its power grid and Russia’s negotiators declined to even to discuss it. It’s already cold in Ukraine and Russia conducted several hundred strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities this month alone.
The Kremlin also restated its price for peace: no further NATO enlargement and NATO forces pulled back to where they stood in 1997. That last demand is a poison pill to any potential deal. Now Trump’s negotiators will surely pressure Ukraine and Europe to compromise their security.
Today at 1200 ET I’m going live here on Substack to walk through what Putin wants, what Ukraine and Europe can live with, the old and new Congress, the Iran war, and answer questions.
JOIN THE LIVE HERE: https://open.substack.com/live-stream/456360
Can’t make it? The recording will be posted afterward.
Alex
This is confusing. This post says that you are going live today. The previous one said tomorrow.