Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy have sat down for a face-to-face talk in the opulent halls of a Vatican basilica to discuss a possible ceasefire, after which the US president accused his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, of not wanting to “stop the war”.
The White House described Trump’s meeting with the Ukrainian leader before Pope Francis’s funeral as “very productive”, while Zelenskyy said on X that the talk with the US president was symbolic and had the “potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results”.
It was the first time that Zelenskyy and Trump had met face to face after a frosty February encounter in the White House where Trump and the US vice-president, JD Vance, berated the Ukrainian leader and accused him of ingratitude for US aid.
What is the strategic advantage for Russia for continuing the war?
If I had to guess (my knowledge is a couple of geopolitics books), I’d say Russia wants to create a rift between East and West that is beneficial to China as well. China helped Russia build a quantum computer recently and there are more clues that they’re getting even closer together. I think Russia wants to shake the current world order.
Why does maintaining a war, which consumes resources, laborers, and focus/attention, and also creates security threats, be beneficial to to Russia for shaking the current world order?
Russia has been cut out from the West, it couldn’t even participate in the Olympics. So it got closer to China. Its economy is resilient despite the war. Russia has also been the leading country in the BRICS in regard to finding an alternative to the dollar together with Brazil. And it is working to ditch SWIFT (the banking system). So I’d say Russia is pretty interested into getting away from the West, at least economically and politically.
Why does staying at war on Ukraine advance these aims?
Because it deepens the rift. Donald Trump as president also helps Putin a lot, as the russian president have said before, since Trump also wants to shake things up. As could be seen by his tariff policies.
How does continuing the war deepen the rift? Clearly it strengthens the resolve of European countries to develop their militaries and build alliances.
You’re asking good questions, but there’s a bigger picture here.
Keeping the war going does deepen the rift between the “West” and the “rest” (Global South, China, parts of Africa, Latin America) because the longer it drags on, the more global fatigue sets in.
Europe may strengthen militarily, but economically and politically it’s getting weaker… inflation, energy crises, internal divisions (think of Hungary, Slovakia, even parts of Germany), and rising far right movements that don’t necessarily want to give aid to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, countries in the Global South see the West’s endless funding of the war and start asking why wars and genocides elsewhere (like in Palestine, Sudan, Yemen) don’t get the same attention or aid. That erodes Western moral authority globally, this alone is probably why you’re here on this platform today.
China and Russia use that frustration to present themselves as “alternatives” to U.S. and European dominance — even if it’s obviously self-serving.
Also, a prolonged war keeps the U.S. distracted and pouring resources into Ukraine instead of focusing fully on Asia-Pacific (where China’s real ambitions lie). From Putin’s view, even if Russia suffers economically, the systemic weakening of Western unity is a bigger win in the long run.
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You people all share the same sexual political psychosis
“You people”?
It’s for Putin he can’t possibly admit defeat. Plus they’re probably banking on the US abandoning Ukraine and the EU not mobilizing aid fast enough. Ukraine is in a rougher spot than they’re letting on, though victory is certainly still possible.
So you’re saying that Putin is behaving irrationally and emotionally based on ego?
I mean…I’m sure that factors in…? But I certainly didn’t boil it down to something that simplistic. There are a lot of reasons he can’t admit defeat.
Is it because Russia hasn’t been defeated, maybe?
Didn’t stop them from retreating from Afghanistan did it?
What’s your deal?
Edit: to the downvoters feel free to keep at it 🖕 we know what makes you bootlickers cheer
You said Putin cannot admit defeat for some reason and I asked if the reason he cannot admit defeat is because Russia has not been defeated yet.
Not interested in debating with someone who will likely eventually reveal they think Putin is justified/right. Unless you’re willing to say right here that Russia is an aggressor nation and that the nation, along with its authoritarian leader Putin, is completely in the wrong, I’m not continuing this conversation.
You’re being cute and dancing around with your “just asking questions” nonsense to avoid explicitly saying what you believe. Enough bait, be direct. Say what you want to say or piss off.
Nah, I just wanted to show you and everyone else that you’re an irrational person who is driven by emotional delusions. I’m not going to respond to a petulant demand that I morally align with you under the threat that you’ll take your ball and go home. You can just disengage.
I’m guessing they’re fruitlessly trying to use the Socratic method to make you critically examine the wild claims you’re making. Even if a victory for Ukraine were still possible as you say, this in no way means Putin is all but defeated and just hiding it. The Russians are not “banking” on Trump pulling back from Ukraine or the EU being unable to meaningfully contribute - both of those things were fully expected a year ago and we can clearly observe right now. Waging a bloody war of attrition until a more favorable geopolitical situation arrives is precisely the stratagem at play here, and is certainly not what losing looks like.
Y’all get that this isn’t a cartoon, right? Finding out who the “bad guy” is doesn’t mean they’re going to lose. Every single one of these things you wrote can be true about Putin and Russia and it still wouldn’t budge the situation on the ground at all, your condemnation isn’t magic. You can certainly take your ball and leave if you don’t want to talk to people with a different analysis, but you can’t go to Narnia.