From: Maia Mikhaluk in Kyiv (1141st day)
Putin isn’t negotiating — he’s mocking America. Ruzzia doesn’t want compromise. It doesn’t want peace. It sees America as an enemy, and every attempt at “outreach” is treated as weakness to be exploited.
The article in The Hill by Andrew Chakhoyan says, “With an economy the size of Texas and collapsing demographics, Russia knows it is no global superpower. Rather, it is a bloodsucking kleptocracy anchored in a dream of colonization — incapable of delivering prosperity to the people, but skilled at peddling fantasies of greatness in exchange for obedience. Unable to rise, Moscow aims to pull America down instead, believing its best shot at relevance lies not in competing with the West, but in weakening it.
Putin lied about Crimea when Obama was president, lied about Syria during Trump’s first term, lied to Biden about having no plans to invade Ukraine — and he is lying now. It’s hard to find a single instance where Putin wasn’t lying — manipulating, embarrassing or demeaning Western leaders he holds in contempt.
In a recent display of open mockery, Putin was caught on camera giggling when reminded he was late for a scheduled call with Trump. Surrounded by Russian business elites, he smirked as his entourage burst out laughing — making clear the delay was no accident but a calculated power play straight out of reflexive control, the Soviet-era doctrine of manipulating opponents into acting against their own interests.”
Ukrainians have no illusions. We know that putin is not negotiating. He is laughing — laughing at our suffering, at Western hesitation, at every naïve talk of ‘compromise.’
Ukrainians have buried our children, our soldiers, our dreams — but we have not buried our courage. Every time someone speaks of peace without justice, it cuts deeper than any missile. Because we know: peace without freedom is just another word for slavery.
For us in Ukraine, this is not a game of diplomacy. It is life and death. While Putin mocks and manipulates, while the world hesitates and bargains, we fight alone — for the right to live free.
We don’t need lectures about peace. We live every day knowing what real peace costs. And we know it is worth fighting for.
Putin is not seeking peace — he is seeking our destruction. Freedom will not survive through appeasement. It survives through truth, sacrifice, and standing firm — even when others grow tired.
The link to the article:
Voice of Ukraine 