Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to halt the war in Ukraine with a negotiated ceasefire that recognises the current battlefield lines, four Russian sources told Reuters, saying he is prepared to fight on if Kyiv and the West do not respond.
Three of the sources, familiar with discussions in Putin’s entourage, said the veteran Russian leader had expressed frustration to a small group of advisers about what he views as Western-backed attempts to stymie negotiations and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s decision to rule out talks.
“Putin can fight for as long as it takes, but Putin is also ready for a ceasefire – to freeze the war,” said another of the four, a senior Russian source who has worked with Putin and has knowledge of top level conversations in the Kremlin.
He, like the others cited in this story, spoke on condition of anonymity given the matter’s sensitivity.
While there might be a sudden (and long overdue) influx of material heading Ukraine’s way my understanding is that they’ve been attritioned out of a lot of their fighting capability due to the long (fuck you GOP) drought of munitions. Russia has a lot more manpower to throw at the war and has been actively recruiting dumb foreigners (or kidnapping foreigners) along with using prison labor to supplement their fighting force.
Russia has about 3.5x the manpower, and IIUC, Ukraine might start using convicts. Maybe they might use some of that aid to increase pay and maybe get their own foreigners.