Among the absurd maximalists demands for peace, this one is interesting. It implies that he accepts there is and will be a border between Ukraine and Russia at all. Which is suggestive that even he understands his delusions of total conquest are never going to happen, and that they probably need to consolidate their gains at this point. A small but maybe relevant admission that the war is grinding to a close, despite their belligerent insistence that they’re winning.
Suggestion for the buffer zone:
Sounds wise. They’ll definitely need a buffer zone once the Ukrainians retake all their land, it’s going to be dangerous to be close to people who are that pissed off at them.
No it’s not land we grabbed to mine for gas and minerals. It’s a, uh, . . . buffer zone! Yeah. That’s it.
