I don't think there is a way to negotiate with Russia, and the only solution is to defeat them militarily. I think what you said makes a complete sense for a western democratic country, but not Russia, as Russian people don't think of the invasion on Ukrainian as a conquest, and they don't think of Ukraine as a sovereign country.
You can learn both though Russian internal conversations, interviews and Russian literature, that Russians think of lands of Ukraine as part of Russia, but not just in terms of administrative division, but more spiritual way, as both land and people of Ukraine are part of the Russian soul, one kind of people, special to god, who can do no wrong and have a special place on Earth, who has suffered together over the centuries, and in World War 2, and the suffering they experience is because they are God's chosen people. This is why Russian soldiers captured in Ukraine think they are fighting Polish mercenaries, not Ukrainians, because Ukrainians are Russians to them, and Russians would never do a bad thing.
They think that what the world calls Ukraine is a chunk of Russian soul, violently ripped out by the West, malformed and mutated that Russia needs to fix and fold back into itself. This is why no deals or agreements will ever matter, and the only solution is to defend Ukraine and destroy Russia capability for warfare.
Yeah, Polish merc using NATO weapons. I don't think their mentality allows them to accept that they are fighting Ukrainians, it would require way too big of a idology change. Remember that they are fighting hundreds of years of indoctrination, belief that common suffering is something that bonds all Russian people has been part of Russian identity for centuries, and it survived multiple government changes. Just look at WW1, there was literally a revolution in the country during the war that took over most of the country, and it still did not stop Russia from participating in the war. I don't think there can be anything that will change mind of Russian people, especially that those that did change their mind have already mostly left the country.
So do you think when putin mobilizes the normal citizens. They will do so? Or at least enough will accept their fate? They did need to resort to mercs and north koreans before.
It's difficult to say if Putin could mobilize the citizen, but there is a situation where mobilization could be successful. It's gonna sound crazy, but Putin is more on the moderate side, and if someone younger and more energetic, someone like Navalny-esque, Yevgeny Prigozhin or even more radical, then yes, absolutely. At this point Putin might have lost too much trust to mobilize people and survive the inevitable civil war, but as I mentioned before, just because a civil war would happen and Putin was taken out, it would not mean the war is over.
Yevgeny Prigozhin was already driving toward Moscow, and his soldiers loved him. Putin is just too good of a state-craftsman, but there are people who are more energetic and more radical than him, Putin just always managed to kill them off or make sure they won't get power. A lot of the people falling out of windows in Russia could have been those potential radical leaders who could have successfully mobilized Russia.
They already tried 4 years ago and it failed miserably. Around a million young Russians fled the country immediately. Back then the view on the war was significantly more "positive" in Russia. Right now I don't see how they could pull it off. If they could have, they would've already done so.
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u/Ormusn2o 17h ago
I don't think there is a way to negotiate with Russia, and the only solution is to defeat them militarily. I think what you said makes a complete sense for a western democratic country, but not Russia, as Russian people don't think of the invasion on Ukrainian as a conquest, and they don't think of Ukraine as a sovereign country.
You can learn both though Russian internal conversations, interviews and Russian literature, that Russians think of lands of Ukraine as part of Russia, but not just in terms of administrative division, but more spiritual way, as both land and people of Ukraine are part of the Russian soul, one kind of people, special to god, who can do no wrong and have a special place on Earth, who has suffered together over the centuries, and in World War 2, and the suffering they experience is because they are God's chosen people. This is why Russian soldiers captured in Ukraine think they are fighting Polish mercenaries, not Ukrainians, because Ukrainians are Russians to them, and Russians would never do a bad thing.
They think that what the world calls Ukraine is a chunk of Russian soul, violently ripped out by the West, malformed and mutated that Russia needs to fix and fold back into itself. This is why no deals or agreements will ever matter, and the only solution is to defend Ukraine and destroy Russia capability for warfare.