Timothy Nelson5 said:I don't know exactly what kind of pressure we're talking about here, but I guess it’s about more than just oil and gas pipelines.
Defeats of this magnitude... they tend to rattle the political establishment in Moscow. It makes things like internal power struggles or even a coup feel like actual possibilities, I suppose.
People seem to naively think some well-meaning democracy lover will just step in to replace Vladimir, but honestly, many—maybe even most—of his loudest critics are actually more radical than he is.
And even that might not be the worst-case scenario. The real nightmare, maybe, is Russia completely fracturing. You could end up with total chaos where various radical nationalists seize entire regions and start waving nuclear arsenals around their territory. That’s a scary thought.
At the same time, I think Ukrainians need to realize that, eventually, some kind of peace agreement is going to be necessary. Another few years of this war is going to cost far too many lives and resources.
It doesn't have to be any specific deal, but at some point, things just have to be settled one way or another.
Exactly, that’s my point. It’s not just about stopping the fighting; it’s about how you wrap it up. You're eventually going to have to sit down at a table with Russia to negotiate. That's probably why there's all this pressure on Zelenskyy to either get the job done quickly or make sure this doesn't drag on forever—because nobody actually benefits from a never-ending conflict. Sure, Putin is Putin, but he won't be in charge forever, and the world still has to live with Russia, trade with them, and coexist.
What matters right now is how Ukrainians handle POWs and people who aren't on their side in liberated areas. Most importantly, they shouldn't move so fast during the liberation that they end up with zero leverage when it comes time to actually talk.