December 20th, 2024: Putin Talks Deal With Trump To End Ukraine War & China Under Scrutiny Over Mystery Drone Phenomena
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What recent developments have occurred in the Ukraine war?
We'll start the show with an update on the war in Ukraine, as Russian President Putin claims he's ready to strike a compromise with Donald Trump to end the conflict. Later in the show, Israel is setting their sights on Iran's last remaining proxy group of note in the Middle East, warning Yemen's Houthi rebels that the long arm of Israeli justice will soon come for them. Plus, military bases near Chinese-owned farmland have been caught up in the mystery drone phenomena haunting U.S. skies, leading some to believe that the activity is related to espionage efforts by the Chinese Communist Party. And in today's back of the brief, officials in Kyiv say they've disrupted a massive Russian spy ring operating within Ukraine that sought to collect sensitive intelligence related to F-16 fighter jets donated by Kyiv's Western allies. But first, today's PDB Spotlight.
Russian strongman Vladimir Putin just gave a marathon end of year press briefing in Moscow where he claimed he's ready to strike a bargain to end his nearly three year old war on Ukraine. During the four and a half hour long question and answer session. Can you imagine if you were in the press and you had to sit through that? Anyway, during that four and a half hour long question and answer session on Thursday, which was of course carefully choreographed by the Kremlin, Putin said his forces are winning the war, but would gladly participate in possible peace talks with U.S. President-elect Trump once he returns to office in order to find a compromise with Ukraine. He also claimed that Russia had no preconditions to start talks with Ukrainian authorities, and that's according to a report from Reuters. But, as always with Putin, well, there's a significant catch. The dictator said Russia has been ready to negotiate for some time and placed the blame on leaders in Kyiv for resisting efforts to start a discussion.
He also said that while he's willing to negotiate with anyone, including Ukrainian President Zelensky, the Kremlin would only accept a deal that is approved by the Ukrainian parliament, which he called Ukraine's only legitimate authority. Putin said Zelensky, whose term technically expired in the spring of this year, would need to stand for re-election for Moscow to consider him a legitimate signatory to any future agreement. Oh, because, of course, nobody loves protocol and pomp and circumstance and sticking to the rules like Putin does. As a reminder, Ukrainian elections were scrapped due to the war, and Zelensky has been leading under an extended period of martial law. Now, furthermore, despite his declaration that Russia has no conditions for starting negotiations, Putin later said that any diplomatic discussions should be based on the failed Istanbul talks from 2022. So, I guess Putin does have conditions.
What did Putin say about negotiations with Trump?
For some background, the Istanbul negotiations occurred shortly after Moscow's full-scale invasion. The draft treaty allowed Ukraine to pursue EU membership but prohibited it from joining NATO. The treaty also imposed stringent conditions, forbidding Ukraine from hosting foreign weapons, requiring reductions in its military forces, and demanding Kyiv officially cede Crimea and parts of the Donbass region to Russia. Kyiv rejected these terms, of course, as unacceptable and akin to a capitulation, leading to the collapse of the talks.
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