Rubio Warns US Readying to 'Abandon' Ukraine Peace Efforts
Following weeks of stop-and-go attempts to make any kind of headway with Ukrainian ‘negotiations’ both Trump and Secretary of State Rubio have now signaled terminal exasperation.
In a new statement, Rubio remarked that he and Trump are close to giving up on Ukrainian peace attempts:
“We’re trying to figure out very soon—and I’m talking about a matter of days…if this war can even be ended. If not, then the president is going to say ‘We’re done’.”
Trump punctuated this with his own follow-up by grousing: “If for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say you’re fools and horrible people, and we’re going to take a pass.”
At the same time, rumors continue to abound that Trump is now targeting a ceasefire for the first 100 days of his administration by the end of April. I suppose the trick is to just keep adding zeroes to the end of each promise—first a ceasefire on day one of office, now day 100, maybe soon 1,000. Is that how it works?
Granted, there has been some headway made by Witkoff, who appeared to acknowledge that a US-Russian rapprochement would bring the world to a different kind of turning point, hinting at ongoing discussions that range much greater than merely Ukraine, but something more akin to Putin’s visionary global security architecture rejigging.
But Russian media jumped the gun yesterday announcing that Witkoff had now de facto approved of Ukraine giving up “all five” contested regions to Russia. Witkoff reportedly clarified that he was still only referring to the five regions at the current point of ‘occupation’—which precludes giving up cities like Kherson and Zaporozhye. This can only mean we’re still no where near agreement on core conditions between Russia and the US.
UN rep Nebenzya underlined this with a new statement:
Ceasefire in Ukraine "at this stage" is unrealistic, said Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Nebenzya
Bloomberg reports that the US is “willing to recognize Crimea as Russian”—but this is a pittance compared to Russia’s full demands, a fact RT’s Margarita Simonyan made loud and clear:
The fact of the matter is, Zelensky has now given a list of Ukraine’s own “red lines”: they include no demilitarization, and in fact stipulate specifically that Ukraine will increase its military strength at all costs. This one point alone makes the whole charade utterly futile as Russia can never allow a threatening militarized power like this to exist on its frontier.
Now Ukrainians believe it is simply inevitable that the US will be out of the picture, and Ukraine forced to subsist merely on European support. So the big question becomes: will Europe alone be enough?
One of the top Ukrainian analysts chimes in:
Myroshnykov:
Trump doesn't even want to sell weapons to Ukraine.
Yes, he refused to sell the Patriot air defense system.
The source so far is the German Bild, which is not reliable. I would wait for American sources.
But overall, the train of thought is clear.
They will transfer (with pauses and blockages) the aid that was allocated and contracted under Biden, and that's it.
From now on, arms supplies will be exclusively the province of Europe and other allies.
And Trump is also putting pressure on Europe for supplying us with weapons.
Kremlin agent Krasnov is doing everything possible to ensure that Russia wins.
But fuck him all about the self-tanning.
We'll get away with it, and this scumbag will become the most hated US president in the history of the country.
Many American “experts” like David Ignatius believe Ukraine will begin to be in trouble by summertime, as Europe will not be able to shoulder America’s burden:
"Ukraine is going to suffer big losses this summer" - American journalist David Ignatius.
"Trump, Rubio and their team seem to be preparing to step away from this issue, leaving it in the hands of the Europeans. And I'm sorry to say this, but despite the enormous efforts of the Europeans, they do not have the necessary resources to replace the United States. They are not able to compensate for this gap, which means that unless something changes, Ukraine will find itself in a situation this summer where its losses will become increasingly heavy."
Pro-Ukrainian commentators on the other hand believe that Ukraine can keep trucking with European help because, according to them, Ukraine has transitioned almost entirely to a drone-based defense organization, where the need for other types of arms becomes minimal.
This is evidenced by presentations like the following, a new video from Ukraine’s government-run United24 production company. It showcases what is claimed to be Ukraine’s largest drone manufacturing line, a sprawling complex outfitted with 350 3D printers churning out what is alleged to be 4,000 FPVs per day:
Video from United24media from a production facility for the Ukrainian company Skyfall, which produces Shrike FPV and Vampire night bomber UAVs. They currently produce 4,000 FPVs per day.
It’s a little hard to believe, given that up til recently Ukraine’s drone production was claimed to be 2-3 million per year, max. At 4,000 per day, this one facility alone would be doing 1.5 million, or more than half of Ukraine’s claimed output. Secondly, it’s interesting they continue to proudly refer to it as Ukraine’s “domestic” production, continually building up Ukraine as some kind of self-sufficient powerhouse capable of going it alone, and slugging it out with Russia with little outside help. Yet in the very opening of the video, the host curiously describes the production site as being: “A few thousand kilometers from the frontline…”
Well, that’s fascinating, given that from the Polish border to Donetsk is barely 1,000km:
So, where is this facility, exactly, that it is “a few thousand kilometers” from the frontline? Is this really Ukraine’s brawny “domestic” production at its finest? Seems more likely it’s planted in Poland or Germany. That should probably answer the natural question sure to be asked as to “Why Russia can’t destroy such a massive facility pumping out more than half of Ukraine’s entire drone output?”
The video is worth a watch though, as the second half goes into the fledgling AI vision the drones are being increasingly equipped with, giving us a further look as to how the battlefield is shifting.
It’s undeniable how outlandish things are beginning to look owing to the drone threat, from the increasingly oddball vehicle anti-drone reinforcements:
A T-72B3M tank of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation with anti-drone protection in the form of hair made of metal cables.
To the terrain itself, now increasingly transformed by anti-drone netting, as the following new video again demonstrates:
I posted this video in a premium article recently, so I’ll post it again for the free subscribers: Russian drones seen bypassing the netting covering Ukrainian logistics lines from below, to successfully hit AFU transport vehicles:
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Another exchange of bodies took place on the front, with an even more lopsided tally than last time: 909 Ukrainian dead to 41 Russian.
Some channels have put together the exchanges going back two years:
18.04.25 Exchange of the dead
On April 18, another exchange of bodies of fallen servicemen took place in the SVO zone between Russia and Ukraine. Ukraine received the bodies of 909 fallen servicemen, Russia - 41.
Graph of exchange of bodies of the dead for the years 23-25.
In total, Russia transferred 6881 bodies, Ukraine 1374 bodies.
For those who are new to this, a Ukrainian government body called the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War publishes the exchanges on their official governmental site, with the latest being here:
https://koordshtab.gov.ua/posts/v-ukrayinu-povernuly-tila-909-polehlykh-oborontsiv-2079
On the above site they even provide photos of the Russian morgue trucks which delivered the bodies, which were from:
But as I’ve said before, they do not publish the amount of Russian bodies they return to Russia. The reason seems obvious: that they do not wish for the casualty disparity to be known. So the “41 bodies” returned to Russia is a figure taken from the Russian side.
For the record, my own previous ongoing tally from a March exchange was:
Russian losses: 464
Ukrainian losses: 5,213
Ratio: 11.24 to 1
So now we add to it and get:
Russian losses: 505
Ukrainian losses: 6,122
Ratio: 12.12 to 1
I’ve only been tracking them for a year or so, unlike the earlier chart, but figured it’s worth to keep my own tally going.
I really do wonder what possible reasoning detractors can come up with for such an increasingly lopsided exchange rate. Surely people can’t still be attributing it to simply: “It’s because Russia is advancing and collecting the bodies”, can they?
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A few last items:
Another HIMARS system was said to have been tracked and destroyed by an Iskander-M near Kramatorsk:
18.04.25 Kramatorsk - Starovarvarovka
Combat operations in the depths of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' defense.
Successful destruction of the Ukrainian HIMARS multiple launch rocket system as a result of a missile strike by the Russian Armed Forces on a position near Starovarvarovka. Detonation of ammunition.
The distance from the line of combat contact is about 40 km.
Geo: 48.65972, 37.27472
Geolocation:
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Witkoff makes the diplomatic faux pas of the century by comparing the Elysee to…Trump’s Mar-a-Lago golf club, during his visit to Paris:
What is it they say about class?
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Russian forces have continued making many new nibbling gains all around the front, which we will get to on the next report.
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