on 28 October, Zelensky suddenly expressed his willingness to negotiate peace, but on the premise that the negotiating venues could not be in Russia and Belarus.
The war between Russia and Ukraine has been fighting for more than three years. From February 24, 2022 to the present, there has finally been some shadow of peace.
But to say who is the sinner who has dragged out the war for so long, it is not the United States that everyone thought of first. The secrets here need to be discussed slowly.
Three years of battle thanks to it?
First of all, the three-year war has been fought, and how many crimes both sides have committed, the roots are actually in 2014.
That year, Ukraine's pro-Russian President Yanukovych stepped down, and Crimea was taken over by Russia.
Donetsk, Lugansk, these places, pro-Russian people want independence, Russia is also helping.
Later, the Minsk Agreement was signed twice, once in September 2014 and once in February 2015, but none of them were implemented well, and the sound of border guns never stopped.
By 2022, on the Russian side, the West estimates that at least hundreds of thousands of soldiers have been killed.
Although the economy has been sanctioned, it has not collapsed by selling oil and gas to China and India.
Russia's move is also smart. Although the sanctions are harsh, they have grasped the energy needs of China and India and the cash flow has not been interrupted.
According to data on October 21, 2025, Russia controls about 19% of Ukraine's land, and it will occupy more than 100 square miles per month in the first half of this year.
It is even more difficult in Ukraine. The country's debt is almost equal to GDP, and more than half of its infrastructure has been destroyed.
In 2023, trying to counterattack Zaragoza and Helsinki, the result was that the advance was slower than the snake, the ammunition was not enough, the soldiers were not enough, and the soldiers of the front were tired and could not withstand.
It all depends on the support of the United States and Europe, otherwise it would have been unable to withstand it. In October 2025, the battlefield is not idle.
On the 23rd, Ukraine sent nearly 200 drones to bomb Russia, not even letting go of Moscow. Russia's air defense systems blocked many of them, but some airports were still forced to close.
On the 25th, Russia wanted to take advantage of the bad weather to carry out a mechanized attack, but as a result, its tanks lost a lot and failed to get any good.
From the 26th to the 27th, it was even more frightening. Russia mentioned nuclear weapons again and said that it tested a nuclear-powered missile called Burevestnik.
After flying for 15 hours, the West called this missile "Flying Chernobyl", which sounded scary.
What about Zelensky?
After talking about the bad things on the battlefield, we have to talk about Zelensky's statement on the peace talks this time.
In an interview on the 28th, he said that as long as he can talk about real results, he can talk about them anywhere, except Russia and Belarus.
Zelensky's bottom line is quite real, if he went to Russia and Belarus, the negotiating table is estimated to be unstable.
He also specifically mentioned that he had no objection to going to Hungary for talks, even if he was not interested in some of the practices of Hungarian Prime Minister Orban.
I originally wanted to think that he was holding on without lowering his head, but later discovered that he was actually trying to leave more room for negotiations.
After all, Serbia stood up on October 26th and said it was willing to mediate. One more may give more hope for peace.
Zelensky, however, said that the negotiations should start with the actual line of control and not withdrawal.
This directly undermined Russia’s requirement to “talk about the withdrawal first.”
Interestingly, he also praised Trump, saying that Trump's support for the initiative of "ceasefire at the existing border" was an important signal.
Obviously, he wants to support himself through the U.S. attitude, after all, the support of Ukraine has to rely on the U.S. Europe.
But back and forth, Zelensky is so hard-hearted and helpless, Ukraine is now difficult to recruit, if it is really withdrawal, the people on the side can not go.
He also called on the U.S. Congress to impose harsher sanctions on Russia, allowing Europe to give money to stabilize over the next two or three years.
To put it bluntly, without this support, he would not have many chips at the negotiating table.
How can Europe become a sinner?
Peace talks have been, and may not be, and we have to look at the attitude of Europe.
Why is Europe the "biggest sinner" who slows down the war? It's not wronged, it's a real thing.
First of all, Europe is in great chaos. Germany and France were very active in aiding Ukraine at first, but their military spending only accounted for about 2% of GDP and did not do their best.
Germany even delayed aid tanks for a long time, and the defense minister also shouted "cannot always rely on the United States", and the result could not follow in action.
Hungary’s Orbán, let alone, has obstructed the EU’s aid program.
Poland is active, with military expenditure accounting for more than 4% of GDP, spending 50 billion yuan on American weapons, and receiving many refugees. However, some people say that it wants to take the opportunity to raise its position in Europe and be the leader of anti-Russia.
On August 30, 2025, White House officials directly accused some European leaders of prolonging the war.
On September 24, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov also said that Europe and Ukraine have jointly delayed the war.
Trump has also previously targeted Europe, saying it is not serious about promoting peace.
Unable to understand what Europe is really thinking, for a moment shouting to support Ukraine, and for a moment trying to grasp on aid, afraid that they didn't even pick up.
What's worse is that Europe itself has suffered. The energy crisis caused high inflation, Germany's manufacturing industry has declined, and many factories have moved production lines to the United States and China.
Originally, the EU summit on October 23 said that it would protect Ukraine's money from 2026 to 2027.
As a result, the loan of 140 billion euros was postponed again, and the promised security assistance of 35 billion euros was not fulfilled.
Italian Prime Minister Meloni also warned on October 22 that using assets frozen by Russia must comply with the law. Isn't this another obstacle to aid Ukraine?
Europe wants to weaken Russia, but does not want to spend more money on its own.
As a result, the longer the war lasted, the worse its economy became, and it became popular.
From this point of view, if Europe does not unify its position quickly, even if Zelensky is willing to talk, peace will be difficult to achieve.
With the current situation in Russia and Ukraine, it is too early to say that the finale is coming, but at least it is possible to talk about it.
Zelensky’s statement was a good start, and the American attitude was a help, but most importantly Europe had to change that hesitant problem.
If Europe continues to divide and delay, this battle will probably continue to be exhausted.
In the end, Ukraine lost its territory, Russia suffered its vitality, and Europe itself had to continue to suffer. This was not a good result.