Putin's Advice to Trump: Stop Helping Ukraine
A Front the Hosts Call Unraveling
Alexander Mercouris tells Alex Christoforou that Ukraine's military situation is deteriorating fast in every respect. He describes Russian bombing of Black Sea ports and southwestern depots, then resumed round-the-clock strikes on Kiev. He says there is no air defense to speak of. Reports of a pullback near Kramatorsk and fighting at Druzhkivka are attributed to Russian sources he calls relatively reliable. A rumored Lyman counteroffensive, he adds, still lacks confirming video or an official Ukrainian statement. None of this is independently verified here.
Money, and a Magazine Headline
Mercouris says Ukraine collected only half of what it usually collects in tax last month, and that this month will be lower. The hosts point to a New York Times report that Europeans are asking where $27 billion went. They treat a Spectator article titled "Ukraine is losing the war" as the British political class being told the same assessment the program has been making. That is how the hosts read the magazine, not a finding of this project.
Threats, Inducements, and One Sentence of Advice
Alex asks how Ratcliffe can negotiate if he cannot meet Putin or Lavrov. Mercouris's answer is that Ratcliffe cannot even get a meeting with Putin or Lavrov, after which Washington tried Witkoff and Kushner with economic inducements that also failed. He reports that Putin told Trump, on Ushakov's account of their call, that ending the war is simple: stop helping Ukraine. Zelensky's UN trip, on this telling, is a search for money because the Patriot interceptors do not exist. These remain the hosts' claims.
Interview Highlights
1 exchanges- Q
How is Ratcliffe going to negotiate if he cannot get a meeting with Putin or Lavrov?
Alex Christoforou asked14:22AAlexander Mercouris answeredMercouris says the Americans first sent Ratcliffe with threats, which failed, then Witkoff and Kushner with economic inducements, which also failed; Putin refused both.