The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assessed that Russia "may be trying to use its coordinated missile-strike campaign against Ukrainian infrastructure and the associated humanitarian situation in Ukraine to add pressure on Western officials to offer preemptive concessions."
The Washington-based think tank said: "Russia is attempting to capitalize on the Western desire for negotiations to create a dynamic in which Western officials feel pressed to make preemptive concessions to lure Russia to the negotiating table."
In its latest analysis of Russia's military campaign in Ukraine, the ISW reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday held an hour-long telephone conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz "in which Putin falsely stated that Western financial and military aid to Ukraine creates a situation in which the Ukrainian government outright rejects talks between Moscow and Kyiv and called upon Scholz to reconsider Germany’s approach regarding developments in Ukraine."
Scholz stated that any diplomatic solution to the conflict in Ukraine must include the withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukrainian territory, according to the US think tank.
"The Putin-Scholz call corresponded with a diplomatic overture from US President Joe Biden on December 1 in which Biden stated that he is prepared to speak with Putin if the Russian president is looking for a way to end the war, although Biden acknowledged that he has no immediate plans to do so," the ISW said.
It noted that "Western leaders rebuffed the Kremlin’s efforts and reaffirmed their support for Ukraine."
Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, at a joint press conference on Thursday, reiterated their commitment to support Ukraine in its war against Russia, the ISW reported.
It said that "Biden’s and Macron’s joint show of support for Ukraine and Scholz’s insistence on the complete withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine indicate that France, Germany, and the US are not prepared to offer Russia significant preemptive concessions at this time."
Biden stated that “the idea that Putin is ever going to defeat Ukraine is beyond comprehension,” the ISW reported.
Saturday is day 283 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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Source: PAP, understandingwar.org