Volodymyr Zelensky is facing perhaps his darkest hour.

And in his video message to the Ukrainian people, he made no secret of the difficulties the country now faces following the arrival of the US-Russia peace plan. "We are in one of the most difficult moments in our history. The pressure on Ukraine is at its highest. Ukraine could now face a very difficult choice: either the loss of its dignity or the risk of losing a key partner."

Time is running out, and Donald Trump has issued his ultimatum. Make a decision by Thursday or else. Zelensky is on the ropes, caught between corruption scandals, nearly empty treasury coffers, and a complicated situation at the front. "Ukraine," he assured, "must not relive the déjà vu of February 24th, when we felt alone, when no one could stop Russia except our heroic people, who stood like a wall against Putin's army."

Those were the glory days, when Zelensky transformed himself into a 21st-century Churchill and, appearing on social media from the courtyard of the Mariinsky Palace in Kiev, reassured his people that he had not abandoned the capital, as Russian disinformation claimed. But those days are gone, his ratings are falling, Ukrainians are tired, troops at the front are grumbling. How the country might react to a forced peace that involves de facto mutilation is unknown. Meanwhile, Russian air strikes continue. Five people were killed and nine injured in a bombing raid on Zaporizhia overnight between Thursday and Friday. According to Ukrainian authorities, a high-explosive bomb hit a market in the Shevchenkivskyi neighborhood.

In Odessa today, police reported an explosion at a recruitment center, "with at least one dead and one injured."

Meanwhile, in Ternopil, in western Ukraine, the mayor said the death toll from the Russian bombing of November 19 has risen to 31, including six minors, and 94 injured, with 10 people still missing. The situation on the ground is difficult to assess in detail, but a visit Thursday by President Vladimir Putin, in camouflage uniform, to a command post near the front line gave senior officers the opportunity to announce new victories. Specifically, the capture of Kupyansk, where, according to the Russians, only "scattered groups of Ukrainian soldiers" remain.

Moscow has claimed to have now taken control of 75% of the city of Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region, and "over 80%" of Vovchansk, in the Kharkiv region, near the border with Russia. Furthermore, according to Putin, fighting is ongoing inside the town of Kostyantynivka, in the Kramatorsk district of Donetsk, another strategic stronghold of the Ukrainian defense line. The Russian claims were denied by the Ukrainian General Staff, which, however, acknowledged that heavy fighting continues in the Pokrovsk sector. Without US assistance, especially in terms of intelligence for deep strikes, the war for Kiev would become even more brutal. Europe is on Zelensky's side. But even if it wanted to, there are certain things it can't do. And Zelensky knows it.

(Unioneonline)

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