A source from inside the Russian Government delegation to Turkey for the negotiations, said the quiet part out loud today, about Ukraine.
I will report this verbatim. He said:
"I hope everyone can understand why the Russian President didn't come to Turkey or even consider the EU proposed Ceasefire.
This is a waste of our time.
Just look at the Ukrainian side, unorganized, and making unproductive statements "Crimea is Ukraine." We aren't here to argue, you are here to sign a neutrality peace deal and there is no negotiations over it;
> 4 regions and Crimea are accepted Russian
> Neutrality (No NATO)
> End to the killing and discrimination against ethnic Russians
> Denazified
These are permanent statements by Russia and are not changeable.
Did the Ukrainian side miss something?
We are all for peace, but we have the might to keep the SMO going, not you. The only ones to suffer will be the Ukrainian population.
Don't act like this is us begging you, we could declare war and crush you in days if Putin decides, and the world would watch us do it.
We do this to spare your population."