The game is ahead. Why is Zelensky extending martial law, and what this means for negotiations with the USA and the Russian Federation

The Verkhovna Rada today extended the action of martial law and mobilization until August 6. But, unlike all previous votes, now this process has caused political seething.

For the first time since the beginning of a full -scale war in the Rada, a criticism of extension sounded. And this is probably one of the reasons why Zelensky brought a question to the Rada much earlier than the expiration of martial law.

Despite the common skepticism regarding the prospects for the ceasefire against the background of the fact that Putin put forward conditions that are not a fact that Trump could or want to fulfill, all the same, in Kyiv, not everyone is sure that negotiations between Washington and Moscow will endure and end in failure.

On Bankova there is a certain concern regarding the communication of the representative of Trump Whitkoff and Putin. It was especially growing after Trump recently stated that he was waiting for good offers to stop fire, and Whitkoff said about progress in negotiations So what “We are on the threshold of something very important.”

In Kyiv, there are concerns that Americans can agree to a number of Russian conditions for the end of the war, which are categorically unacceptable for Zelensky. Including – regarding the conduct of elections with a hint of the need to leave the current president of Ukraine from the post. Rumors about this are stubborn and for a long time. True, there are no evidence that the Americans put forward or intend to put forward such conditions yet.

However, there is another, parallel process, which is also potentially dangerous for the Ukrainian authorities in terms of relations with the United States – discussion of the bowels of the bowels. The Western media write that the Americans do not retreat from their main requirements (the actual recognition of assistance rendered by Ukraine as a duty to America), although in Kyiv they consider them obviously unacceptable. Trump has already threatened Zelensky with “big problems” if he refuses to sign the deal. And there were already rumors that Washington was preparing sanctions against the immediate environment of the President of Ukraine, including Ermak. Yes, and Trump's rhetoric against Zelensky again becomes negative.

That is, 100% cannot be excluded by the option in which Washington will decide to exert severe pressure on Zelensky to force him to conclude a transaction in the bowels and/or for consent to the conditions of ceasefire, which Kyiv does not want to accept now. In such a situation, the president’s office seems to have decided to play ahead of the lead.

“Now you can collect all the deputies calls to rally, reminders of the tragedies of Krivoy Rog and Sumy. But no one knows how things will be in two weeks if information about the possible agreements between Washington and Moscow will leak out. And if the contours of a certain agreement will appear, and the ceasefire will become part of it, then the deputies will begin to hesitate. Then they will bring them down to vote for the extension of the military law. Therefore, Bankovo ​​decided to play ahead of – Says a source in parliament.

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