In order to achieve peace as soon as possible and reduce unnecessary casualties of troops and civilians, Russia and Ukraine began a series of negotiations at the beginning of the war. However, due to the large gap between Russia and Ukraine's goal of the war, coupled with Ukraine's capriciousness and the fanning of and by , the series of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have achieved no significant results.
According to the " Economic Observer ", on April 19, Podoriak, director of the Ukrainian Presidential Office and member of the Ukrainian delegation, said that the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have been frozen, while Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kureba said that the outcome of the Russian-Ukrainian war will be decided on the battlefield, not on the negotiating table. Just when everyone believed that Ukraine would completely give up negotiations, on April 20, Podolak, adviser to the Ukrainian Presidential Office, posted on personal social media that Ukraine was willing to engage in unconditional negotiations with Russia on saving the lives of Ukrainian soldiers and Ukrainian civilians in Mariupol. Alahamiya, head of the Ukrainian negotiating delegation, also said that as long as Russia agrees to talks with Ukraine, he will go to Mariupol .
Why did the Ukrainian government, which had been extremely tough on negotiations before, suddenly asked the Russian side to engage in unconditional negotiations with it? This starts with the current situation in Mariupol. Now the Russian army and pro-Russian armed forces have completely controlled the city of Mariupol. The remaining Ukrainian armed forces are surrounded by underground fortifications of the Azov Steel Plant covering an area of 110,000 square meters. The supply has been completely cut off and it is already a matter of time. Although the Ukrainian armed forces trapped in the Azov Steel Plant are estimated to have only about 2,000 people, these more than 2,000 people are the essence of the Ukrainian army. According to statistics from the Russian Ministry of Defense, among the more than 2,000 surrounded Ukrainian armed forces, there are a large number of members of the neo-Nazis armed "Azov Battalion", hundreds of mercenaries from Western countries, and many Ukrainian Marines.
Once we realize the components of Ukrainian militants trapped in the Azov Steel Plant, it is not difficult for us to understand why the Ukrainian government suddenly went back on its word and tried every means to rescue these troops from the encirclement. If hundreds of mercenaries from Western countries are completely wiped out by Russian troops in Ukrainian territory, the Zelensky government, which is heavily dependent on Western aid, will be under tremendous diplomatic pressure. If neo-Nazist armed forces such as the "Azov Camp" in the encirclement are completely wiped out by the Russian army, it will cause greater trouble to the Ukrainian government.
First of all, since the color revolution in 2014, the morale of the Ukrainian army has been declining for a long time. The then President Poroshenko boosted the morale of the army by introducing neo-Nazis forces into the army. Although this behavior is extremely wrong, it does maintain and improve the fighting will of the Ukrainian army. The Russian Ministry of Defense and the "Ministry of Defense of the Donetsk People's Republic" have repeatedly stated that in this Mariupol offensive and defensive battle, the neo-Nazis militants of the "Azov Battalion" executed several Ukrainian officers and soldiers who tried to surrender to the Russian army. It can be said that the current neo-Nazis armed forces are playing the role of " supervisory team " in the Ukrainian army. Once these neo-Nazis are all eliminated, the Ukrainian army will lose a reliable "surveillance team".
At present, the morale of the Ukrainian army in Donbas area is very doubtful. Not long ago, on social media, videos of Ukrainian soldiers selling BTR-80 infantry fighting vehicles and "Jaberlin" anti-tank missile to Donetsk pro-Russian militia at an extremely low price. On April 19, the Russian army quickly occupied the eastern Ukrainian city of Krimina, and the Ukrainian army stationed in the local area fled without fighting. These scenes are a reflection of the collapse of the morale of the Ukrainian army on the Donbas front. If the Ukrainian government does not rescue these neo-Nazis who are extremely hating against Russia from the encirclement as soon as possible and immediately allocate them to various troops as "supervisors", then the Ukrainian army on the front line will be at risk of a total morale collapse.
Previously, the deputy commander of the "Azov Camp" uploaded a video on social media, criticizing the Zelensky government for refusing to send troops to rescue it, which has caused some neo-Nazis to be dissatisfied with the Zelensky government. If Zelensky does not take some actions to rescue neo-Nazis and at least puts forward an attitude of being willing to rescue them, no one can guarantee what actions these extremist militants who "listen to the comments or not" against the Ukrainian government will take.
However, the Russian side obviously would not be deceived. Although the Ukrainian armed forces entrenched in the Azov Steel Plant are very tenacious, as an isolated army with supply cuts, they can no longer escape the fate of being completely wiped out, and it is impossible to let the tiger go back to the mountain for temporary convenience. The remnants of the Azov Steel Plant will be eliminated. On the one hand, it can severely attack the political image of Western countries by killing or capturing a large number of mercenaries from Western countries; on the other hand, the elimination of the main forces of neo-Nazis armed forces such as the "Azov Camp" will also greatly promote one of the purposes of Russia's "special military operations" - to make Ukraine "de-Nazization". Instead, the release of these Western mercenaries and neo-Nazist militants from the siege is to release the tiger back to the mountains without fail, which will bring greater trouble to the Russian army's subsequent actions. Ukraine has changed its mind again on the negotiation issue, which has further damaged Ukraine's political credibility. It will be significantly more difficult to negotiate with Russia in the future.
