Russian President asks Western leaders to make Kiev negotiate peace.

[pampango]

78. What you said was, if Kiev is not captured, then the Russia has not invaded. I asked, what if

all Putin wants is the eastern part of Ukraine. Is there is no acceptable evidence of a direct invasion if the tactical goal is not the capture of Kiev? Who wants to control a bunch of pro-Europe Ukrainians in western Ukraine anyway. They would just be a big headache. Let them have their little pro-European Ukraine and the rest can join Mother Russia.

What if his tactical goal is controlling enough land in southeastern Ukraine to geographically connect Russia to Crimea by land along the southeast coast. Would that just take 'a few days' as well? If so, you may be right about the power of the Russian army since this looks like it will be over in a few days.

The Poroshenko government may well collapse or it may not. Either way there are parliamentary elections scheduled for October and his presidential term is far from complete. I seriously doubt that he will conduct a "self-coup" like Yanukovich did and abdicate his office. Democracies have a way of recovering from 'collapsed' parliamentary governments. It happens to them all the time.