 Russia's invasion into Ukraine is now entering its second week and the conflict is getting bloodier and bloodier and lives are being lost. So I think that whatever it takes to end this war is what leaders should be pursuing. Now, what I'm thankful for is the fact that communication between Ukraine and Russia has not been severed, which is very good. And the question is, what is it going to take to get Russia to end their assault on Ukraine? Because they are the aggressors in this instance, obviously. They chose to invade Ukraine, which did not provoke them. So what's it going to take to get them to stop? Well, according to Russia, they have a list of three demands and they're claiming that they would end the war if these demands are met by Ukraine. So as Jake Johnson of Common Dreams explains, the Kremlin said Monday that Russia's deadly assault on Ukraine would end in a moment if the country's leadership agrees to a series of demands, including a firm commitment to not join NATO and formal recognition of two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine as independent states. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov outlined Russia's demands in a phone interview with Reuters ahead of a third round of negotiations between Russian and Ukrainian diplomats on Monday, as the civilian death toll from the invasion continues to mount and the refugee crisis worsens. In addition to diplomatic talks in Belarus, the Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers are set to meet in person in Turkey on Monday, the highest level meeting between the two nations since Russia's assault began late last month. They should make amendments to the Constitution, according to which Ukraine would reject any aims to enter any block, Peskov told Reuters on Monday, reiterating a longstanding Moscow demand. We have also spoken about how they should recognize that Crimea is Russian territory and that they need to recognize that Donetsk and Lugansk are independent states. And that's it. It will stop in a moment. Peskov added that Russia is finishing the demilitarization of Ukraine but denied it is seeking to seize Ukrainian territory or oust the country's national leadership. Ukraine is an independent state that will live as it wants, but under conditions of neutrality, said Peskov. OK, so there's a lot to unpack here. First and foremost, Russia is saying this, but the problem is that their word is shit. They also said that they wouldn't invade Ukraine, but here we are now. So trusting Russia, not necessarily a smart thing. That's first and foremost, because in the events, Zelensky actually agreed to these demands, what assurances would he have that Russia would honor their word here? I mean, if he says, OK, Crimea is part of Russia and these two regions are now independent countries and then Russia doesn't withdraw, then what? So there's that. But it seems as if Zelensky would not be open to all of these demands. Some of it, yes, but not all of it reportedly. So the Washington Post reported that while Ukraine is open to neutrality, Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky has ruled out an agreement that would compromise the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Now, two questions that we have to consider first and foremost, why is the independence of these two particular regions important to Russia? And how does that make Vladimir Putin and Russia better off than before they invaded? What's the difference here? Now, to answer that latter question, it seemingly doesn't really make them better off, but maybe it's a way for Putin to kind of save face. He probably wanted to seize Ukraine entirely, hence the invasion of the entire country. But after Ukrainian forces resisted Russia more aggressively than they perhaps expected. Well, this is Putin's way of kind of taking an optical win before he gets a definitive loss. And also the sanctions are absolutely devastating to Russia and they are crippling the Russian economy. Now, Russia reportedly can't maintain a sustained presence in Ukraine, at least at the current state of severity. So some experts with knowledge of the area are saying that they kind of expect Putin to begin looking for an exit and consolidate the gains that he's made while he still can before it gets worse for him, the economy. And overall, the situation with respect to the invasion. Now, as for why the independence of these two regions is important to Putin? Well, I think that it's reasonable to deduce that if he can't have Ukraine, it's seemingly very difficult for him to actually take Ukraine much harder than he expected. But if he can't have Ukraine, then these two regions having independence being aligned with Russia is the next best thing. And that's evident when you look at this video of the territory, the region itself, as explained by CNN in a surprisingly informative segment. Take a look. To better understand the tensions between NATO and Russia over Ukraine, it's worth a glance at history and a good look at a map. In the Cold War, Europe was split more or less in two, the NATO countries in the West, Warsaw Pact under Moscow's dominance in the East. But post-Cold War, country after country wanted to join NATO and it's moved up to Russia's borders. To understand why Russia feels nervous about that, a topographical map is useful. There's a mountain range running across Europe, the Carpathian Mountains. Now, from the Baltic Sea here to where the Carpathians start there, this is flat ground. And through that flat ground have come Napoleon and the French, Hitler and the Germans and many others who've invaded Russia from that direction. And that makes Russia very nervous. Therefore, it seeks to either plug that gap by occupying it, or if not, where the ground opens up into flat ground. It wants to, at the very least, dominate it. In 2014, its reaction was to occupy an annex, Crimea, part of Ukraine, and its warm water port of Sebastopol, which gives the Russian fleet access out of the Black Sea into the Mediterranean and from there onto the great ocean lanes of the world. It also fermented civil war in the Donbas region in order to create a small mini-buffer zone. To understand Russia's strategy towards Ukraine, it's not just about the military aspects and the political aspects. It's important to understand the place that Ukraine has in Russia's hearts or in its psychology. Russian culture began in Kiev and it's where what eventually became Russia was founded. I mean, it moved eastwards across to Moscow, but they still know in their collective imagination that the root of their culture is in the heart of Ukraine. And Putin wrote an essay pretty much about this in which he doesn't recognise these lines on the map, these borders, because as far as he's concerned, Ukraine is part of Mother Russia. And that is a psychology that goes quite deep into the Russian collective memory. Large parts of the country are Russian speaking. There's the Slavic connection. And there's also the fact that many people are Russian orthodox in their religious belief. So while, of course, great power politics and Russia's position vis-a-vis Western Europe, NATO and the Americans and all the rest of it comes into this, this is from the heart and it actually does play a role in Russian thinking. So you can see how these demands that Putin is making now kind of satisfies that way of thinking that was described in the video. It kind of puts these two regions that would potentially formally have been Ukraine, assuming that Zelensky accepts this deal closer to Russia and also creates a bit of a strategic buffer as Crimea does. So, you know, if he can't have Ukraine, this is seemingly the next best thing for Putin, assuming he actually would honour his end of the deal, because he could be bluffing. Again, he claimed this was not going to happen in the first place. So it's really difficult to take anything that Russia says seriously since they have been proven to be liars. But I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that Putin wants to find some way out, given that this is one, hurting his economy and two, leading to people in his own country rising up against him. Thousands of people have been arrested for protesting the invasion of Ukraine. So it's not making him any new friends. But then again, he kind of should have anticipated this in the first place. I mean, invading Ukraine wasn't in his best interest. I mean, sure, he might think that Ukraine should be part of Russia and have that mentality and want to create a sort of buffer zone between the West and Russia, but still doing this makes matters worse. He's essentially driving these other countries into the arms of NATO by doing this. If you didn't want NATO to increase its presence, well, you're you're having the opposite effect. So it's hard to say what's going to take place. But this is the demands here. That's what I believe is the thinking. I kind of think that Putin is getting a little bit desperate here, because, I mean, there were reports after Russia had invaded that Kiev would fall relatively quickly, given the scale of the assault into Ukraine, but that hasn't happened. And it's kind of been a little bit of a debacle for Putin and to boot. His economy is in shambles. So what do you do? Well, if you're a reasonable person, you kind of look for an out and you try to, you know, take the biggest W that you can now, which is small, but he's trying to leave with something so that way, all of this wasn't for nothing. So whether or not all of this leads to peace, I'm not sure, but I am happy that talks are continuing and I hope it ends soon.