“An immediate ceasefire would mean only one thing: a large part of Ukraine would remain under the control of the Nazi regime,” Lavrov said. This appears to be the first statement by Russian officials outlining what they claim they are fighting for in Ukraine.But why are they talking about this now, when the Trump-Putin meeting is on the verge of falling through?1. If the Kremlin’s goal in the war is to “change the Nazi regime in Kyiv,” as Lavrov says, then of course it’s not about the Donetsk region. So all the talk of “give him Kramatorsk and the war will stop” is complete nonsense. As I have written many times, this is not a war over territory — and Lavrov just confirmed that.2. Putin’s plan for the war against Ukraine is simple. Briefly: as it looks in the minds of the Kremlin’s pensioners — constant fighting at the front and rocket terror in the rear are meant to create public demand to end the war at any cost."Under pressure from part of the public, Zelenskyy signs disgraceful peace terms with Russia. The terms are so absurd that part of the country refuses to accept them, eventually leading to civil war. After that, the country collapses: one part willingly joins Putin, while the other is left to fend for itself — let even Hungary take it."At this stage, most of Ukraine would be “out from under the control of the Nazi regime,” and that is when Lavrov would be satisfied.3. Although this plan is easy to read, until now the Russians had never voiced it. It may seem strange that the platform for such a statement was Lavrov’s press conference with the Ethiopian foreign minister. But this shows that the Russians are nervous and are rushing to make it public precisely now, as the Putin-Trump summit teeters on the brink of collapse.4. Trump is indeed disappointed in Putin. This is the main reason the summit may fall through. He believes he made a huge concession by agreeing to meet in Alaska with no conditions, but instead of a substantive discussion, he essentially received a lecture on the “root causes of the conflict” and “the influence of the Polovtsians on Lenin when he invented Ukraine.”So now he has handed over the preparation of the meeting to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is supposed to determine whether a new meeting makes any sense at all. But since Trump has excluded both himself and his friend Witkoff from the preparation process, the Russians need to somehow reach the president, bypassing the State Department, and remind him that “in Anchorage, Trump and Putin agreed to focus specifically on the ‘root causes.’”Since there is no time to organize other channels, Lavrov hastily shared this with the Ethiopian foreign minister and journalists. As we can see, it did not impress Rubio — and apparently, not Trump either.5. We still don’t know for sure what exactly happened last week in the conversations between Trump, Zelensky, and our European allies. Global media are publishing completely conflicting insider reports, making it difficult to tell which are deliberate leaks and which reflect reality. The only thing known for certain is that Zelensky agreed not to comment — and he is keeping that promise.But this flood of rumors, against the backdrop of the obvious U.S. unwillingness to negotiate with Putin without concessions on his part, only heightens the Kremlin’s nervousness. That is exactly what we saw at the Russians’ meeting with their Ethiopian counterparts."6. It appears that Trump’s current public stance fully aligns with that of Ukraine and Europe: stop the war along the front line, and then let the experts deal with the misguided historians in the Kremlin."The Russians’ reaction so far looks like the whining of a sulky teenager about “we didn’t agree to this” and endless moaning about Alaska.What was agreed upon in Alaska is generally known: Putin somehow convinced Trump that, instead of a ceasefire, it would be better to immediately conclude a peace deal on the “root causes of the conflict.” At first, Trump agreed, but upon seeing the list of these “root causes” prepared by the Russians, he decided to end this absurd charade.We observed this charade for over a month — culminating in simulated serious talks about Tomahawk missiles, only to discover that they are ship-launched, and the Russians even leaked photos online of an experimental system for their ground launch.Trump was also clearly unimpressed by the Russians’ proposal to hand over part of the territory without a fight in exchange for their promise not to seize others. This kind of “mutually beneficial” deception proved too much even for him.So, right now we are witnessing in real time another attempt by the Americans to pressure Putin into stopping the war along the front line. Everyone understands that sooner or later the war will end this way anyway, since neither side is currently winning or has the strength to do so.The only question is how many lives will be lost and how many square kilometers of land will be scorched on both sides. For Putin, these kilometers are of secondary importance — as I wrote a few days ago — and Lavrov has just officially confirmed this.SourceAbout the author. Mykola Kniazhytskyi, journalist, Ukrainian MP.The editorial team does not always share the opinions expressed by the blog or column authors.