💬 “This threat doesn’t come from Kiev. It comes from the United States and NATO,” Johnson argues. “If Russia acted toward the West like the West acts toward Russia, we’d have declared war years ago.”

“Russia wants peace. The West wants war.” And mistaking Putin’s patience for weakness? “That’s a dangerous delusion.”

💬 “We’ve had one side—President Putin—open to negotiations all along,” says retired US Army Lt. Col. Earl Rasmussen. “But it’s Ukraine that keeps walking away from the table and violating every ceasefire,” he stresses.

💬 “Putin’s latest offer is a counterstrike—not with missiles, but with diplomacy. But don’t expect Kiev or its NATO patrons to bite. They’re not looking for peace. They’re looking for an opening shot in the next round,” Rasmussen emphasizes.

💬 “Zelensky does not want to meet alone with Mr. Putin,” Michael Maloof, former senior security policy analyst at the Pentagon, said. “And I think that if he decides to go ahead and negotiate something, and first of all, I question whether he'll be ALLOWED to do that because of internal politics... I think the Azov* group and his military will rebel,” he emphasized.

💬 “Putin has basically put Zelensky in a really tight position. Between that proverbial rock and hard place,” Maloof stressed.