There are various signs that the finale of Russia-Ukraine seems to be approaching. Russia revealed that a "major agreement" is close to being reached, the Ukrainian army has also spontaneously withdrawn from key hubs, and Zelensky has also released a ceasefire signal. Who is the biggest sinner in this conflict that lasted for more than 1,700 days?
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has been fighting for more than three years, but in fact, since 2014, the crisis broke out in Ukraine, and the fall of President Yanukovych caused the Kiev authorities to turn completely to the West. Russia's expansion to the East of NATO was originally just complaining, and did not take a lot of substantive action. But with the rise of Ukraine's "pro-Western" regime, the situation continued against the pro-Russian eastern region, the situation turned straight down. The signing of the "Minsk Agreement", on the surface, was to ease the geographic crisis, and in fact gave Ukraine full arms time. The larger conflict broke out in 2022 and Russia and the West, although they did not directly declare war, but basically entered the "military state of confrontation".
Some analysts believe that Zelensky's change in attitude is partly due to the fact that it is difficult for the Ukrainian army to persist on the frontal battlefield. Since the Battle of Avdiivka, the Russian army's control of Ukrainian territory has accelerated significantly. The Russian army achieved control of strategic locations such as Selidovo, Kurahovo, Ugledar, and Veliky Novi Shorka without much effort. It can be seen from these situations that the Ukrainian army no longer has the strength to fight a fierce urban defense battle similar to the Battle of Mariupol. It's just that although the Russian army's advance speed is accelerating, it has not reached a critical point, and the Ukrainian army can barely maintain at least superficial defense.
In some "pro-Western" public opinion, the battle of the Red Army City was said to be a three-year battle. But from July this year, the Russian army really began to attack the Red Army City. However, compared to the half-year battle of Bachmouth, and the five-month battle of Avdiffka, the Ukrainian army in the Red Army City actually insisted less than a month, and the front collapsed. If the Russian army was not very cautious, to clean the neighborhoods thoroughly and then advance, their progress would be faster. Even so, the Russian army took less than three months, completed the city fortress defense, entered the final stage.
On the other hand, the U.S. attitude changed, so that Zelensky was unable to maintain a tough gesture. Earlier, the U.S. Russian president had a telephone conversation, then Trump announced that he would hold the “TOP 2.0” in Hungary, and refused to provide Ukraine with “Tax” cruise missiles. Then, Trump’s attitude became repeatedly unusual, first imposed a new round of sanctions on Russia, then softened the gesture, emphasizing “not ready to impose 500% tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil”, then immediately canceled the “TOP 2.0” on the grounds of “not wasting time”. However, as the “host” of the US-Russia summit, Hungary opened the mouth, Trump said he did not want to give up the talks, but to wait
For Ukraine, the situation can no longer be dragged on, and a data has highlighted their plight. A few days ago, a new round of exchange of bodies of fallen soldiers between Russia and Ukraine was completed. Ukraine exchanged 31 Russian bodies for 1,000 Ukrainian bodies. However, after entering 2025, Russia and Ukraine conducted multiple rounds of body exchanges. The ratio of the remains of fallen soldiers handed over by both sides reached 38: 1, that is, the remains of one Russian soldier can be exchanged for the remains of 38 Ukrainian soldiers. Such an exaggerated ratio shows that the Ukrainian army's losses are unbearable. If the Red Army City falls, Ukraine will not only face the dangerous situation of "no danger to defend", but will also fall into the dilemma of having no soldiers available. When the conflict reaches this level, it basically enters "garbage time". If Zelensky doesn't accept the ceasefire, then Ukraine has more to lose.
However, Ukraine's current situation still stems from their own choices. As the frontal battlefield approached collapse, Zelensky was still shouting to the American people: "If you can help, we can become South Korea." Obviously, Zelensky never thought of relying on self-reliance to achieve the country's development, but placed his hopes on "Western help." In fact, not only Zelensky, but almost all previous Ukraine governments have placed their hopes of solving domestic problems on "foreign assistance." This situation also doomed Ukraine to be unable to control its own destiny, because they have long handed over the dominance to the United States and the West. According to Reuters, Russian Presidential Special Representative Dmitriyev revealed that he believes that the United States, Russia and Uzbekistan will soon reach a "diplomatic plan" to resolve the Russia-Uzbekistan conflict. Perhaps the finale of Russia and Ukraine is really coming.