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Putin- a more decisive phase??

The War is in a helter skelter phase. Putin is in a position where he would like to have peace negotiations. He has gained enough to say he had a victory. Zelensky does not want talks now because he thinks he is going to gain back ground. The Turkish President is trying to broker talks.

Putin is having problems back in Russia with a call up of 300,000 and fear of more. Putin was told by XI that peace is needed. Modi indicated distaste of the War. Putin told Modi he would try to resolve the War quickly. There are pressures on Putin.

This is causing Putin to step activity. He annexed parts of the Ukraine and the call up. He is threatening using nuclear weapons., claiming fighting in annexed lands are attacking Russia itself. 

Things could be speeding up the end game. A difficulty is the West is not giving Putin a way out. Losing is not proposition for an obsessive maniac who controls the media. . This could work out for talks or a more more disruptive phase!!!

Putin has called for a strategy meeting tonight to plan for the future?????

Blub, blub, blub, blub

Jerry

Putin 

Just ahead of a Friday ceremony declaring the official annexations of the four occupied Ukrainian regions which held controversial referendums, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed two decrees which recognized the "independence" of Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. 

"Recognize the state sovereignty and independence" of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions "effective from the day of signing," the two decrees stated. This paved the way for Friday's ceremony where he's expected to give a major speech which will incorporate those two territories plus Donetsk and Luhansk. WATCH Putin's speech declaring annexation live:

According to Russian state media, "In the documents, Putin refers to the universally recognized principles and norms of international law, and the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, enshrined in the UN Charter." 

In contrast to this Kremlin perspective, Western officials and media sources are slamming the big 'land grab' - which comes at a moment the entirety of these territories are not yet under Russian military control. A White House statement said in response to the "sham" referendums, "The United States will never recognize Ukrainian territory as anything other than part of Ukraine. Russia’s referenda are a sham – a false pretext to try to annex parts of Ukraine by force in flagrant violation of international law, including the United Nations Charter."

Putin said in a televised meeting with officials on Tuesday as voting closed in the four regions: "Saving people in the territories where this referendum is taking place... is the focus of the attention of our entire society and of the entire country."

But according to the latest battlefield update from Reuters, which cites pro-Russian officials in the breakaway eastern republics, things aren't going well on Donetsk amid the ongoing large Ukrainian counteroffensive:

Russian forces in Ukraine were on the verge of one of their worst defeats of the war even as President Vladimir Putin was due to proclaim the annexation of territory seized in his invasion.

The pro-Russian leader of occupied areas in Ukraine's Donetsk province acknowledged his forces had lost full control of Dobryshev and Yampil villages, leaving Moscow's main garrison in northern Donetsk half-encircled in the city of Lyman. 

In response to the declared Kremlin annexation of the four territories, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has convened an emergency meeting of top officials on Friday in which "fundamental decisions" will be taken, according to a Ukraine official cited in Reuters.

Preempting likely Ukrainian escalation against the newly absorbed territories, the Kremlin has once again reiterated that "Any strikes targeting the new areas after their accession to Russia will be considered aggression against us," in a new Friday statement. Putin's speech is being delivered to a large audience of top officials in Saint George's Hall at the Grand Kremlin Palace.

Rare Bright Spot? Russia Mulling Face-To-Face Nuclear Arms Treaty Talks With US

Medvedev Says US, NATO Won't Intervene If Russia Uses Nuke

Says US & European "demagogues are not going to die in a nuclear apocalypse."