Why Did The US Ask For A Ceasefire?

As we saw a few hours ago:

Anabel V. @Anabel_Villeroy

If you want to know which way the wind is blowing, consider that U.S. Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin just called his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu to urge a cease-fire. U.S. insistence on a cease-fire does not spring from a position of strength. Slava Awkward. 🇺🇦 #Ukraine️

Anders Östlund @andersostlund

@ShelHRFC @ShiffletDeck1 I know the answer. Ukraine will win. It's just a question of time. The very sad part is that it will cost many Ukrainians their lives to achieve the victory.

Putin turned them down:

-- GEROMAN -- 👀 - @GeromanAT

#Ukraine Pleads for Release of #Azovstal Fighters, #Scholz and #Austin Ask for Ceasefire, #Putin Refuses The Pontoon bridge head miracles & "A winner does not ask for cease fire" Watch (40min) -> youtu.be/aWJ4-XksnSE via @YouTube

youtu.beUkraine Pleads for Release of Azovstal Fighters, Scholz and Austin Ask for Ceasefire, Putin RefusesUkraine Pleads for Release of Azovstal Fighters, Scholz and Lloyd Austin Ask Russia for Ceasefire, Putin and Russia RefuseNews Topic 496*****LOCALS COMMUNITY...

My first assumption is that Gonzalo Lira is right. The NATO people on the ground

Birdy Namnam @LDV200

The Russians found some interesting Business cards in a conquered Command post of #Azov where a certain Denis Prokopenko held command. Christoph Boursain of the French Embassy Col. Brian Irvin of the Canadian Embassy Michael Faul from the Wehrmacht… sorry… German Embassy

have told those in overall charge of the war that the Ukrainian forces are near collapse and need some respite:

₦₳V𝚜𝚝é𝚟𝚊 🇷🇺 @Navsteva

Scott Ritter: Ukraine has suffered near 50k casualties.

-- GEROMAN -- 👀 - @GeromanAT

@Navsteva @PelmeniPusha the latest POV videos show very old AFU men. Near Izyum! that means they send local guards to a hot front line - that is not what winners do.

OTOH, I don’t assume that the West truly wants the war on Russia to end. The next reason, therefore, would be so that Ukraine can be rearmed under cover of a ceasefire and perhaps to weasel some counter sanction relief for the more economically vulnerable NATO/EU members:

The Name @small_float

According to the information we have (Rustroyka), the T-72M1 tanks that arrived in Ukraine from Poland are not equipped with spare parts, and most of the vehicles have problems with the control system and sights.

Baron of the Taiga @baronichitas

⚡️🇺🇦: Ukraine has forbidden soldiers from publicly complaining about any weapon systems received from NATO countries. This comes after a widely publicized complaint that Polish tanks were crap.

🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker @UAWeapons

Interestingly, the M777A2 shown has an incomplete digital fire control system- we can see the communication-location assembly missing, which consists of defense advance GPS receiver and SINCGARS.

->
(and that is why all those "Russia is slow" idiots do not want to understand)

Odd-Man Hypothesis @OddMan59903018

@GeromanAT Time is on the Russian side. The longer high inflation, gas shortages, and economic destruction goes on in the West resistance to continuing support for Ukraine will grow. The war ends when Europe and the US stop shoveling money and arms into Ukraine & time is not on their side

UK tries to buy old Soviet stuff from all over the planet - so who is running out of what?
US reported "out of stinger - out of Javlins" - we need a year
NATO must deliver Western artillery - because "out of Soviet shells"
-
Ukraine is out of fuel -> no diesel
are you all blind?

Ukraine is begging for jets and air defense - "West" said - we will see - and? - US Patriots WON'T come - why?
Because training would take a year at least.
German Gepard - nope - no ammo - sorry
-
So who the fuck is running out of time here?
Russia?
Do your math.

and who will man all those fancy stuff?
Ukraine is running out of men - not Russia - they even rotate their troops - Ukraine? All they can rotate is their thumbs.
It takes years to train a good NCO - and 4 to get a good platoon commander - much more for higher ranks.

with out a proper NCO backbone your army is shit.
You can't do no "counteroffensives" - all you can do is sitting in a trench and wait till Russian Artillerie blows you mind out of your brains.

And even IF you get some stuff and staff together - how long will they last?
You guys have no idea - war is pure mathematics - numbers don't lie.

Obviously Putin turned the US down—and why would he negotiate with the US or any other NATO country about the fate of Ukraine, a former member state of the USSR? How demeaning the very idea is! He’s winning this thing and he knows it. And he also knows Russia will still be the main enemy of NATO and that he can’t trust anyone in NATO. He announced his non-negotiable objectives—including demilitarization and denazification—long ago. No reason to stop now.

I hadda laugh at this one:

Teri Schultz @terischultz

Estonian Premier @kajakallas is exasperated that Vladimir Putin's phone line is so busy. "If you really want him to get the message that he's isolated," she says, boiling it down. "Don't. Call. Him." #LennartMeriConference

Kallas is another Soros/WEF groupie, along with the PMs of Finland and Sweden, Merkel, Macron, Draghi, and God knows who else. The President of Finland was on the phone to Putin earlier today, whining because Putin turned off Russian electricity to Finland and will turn off the gas soon. Putin told the guy that joining NATO is a bad idea. Apparently the Finns weren’t listening the first time.

Moon of Alabama points asks:

If Ukraine Is Winning Why Is The U.S. Requesting A Ceasefire?

and notes quite a number of other issues that are going in Russia’s favor:

• The economic outlook for Russia is good. It will have a record wheat harvest. Its internal measures to compensate for the results of sanctions are working. Counter sanctions Russia has now initiated against its enemies are starting to become effective.

• Hungary has blocked European sanctions against Russian oil.

• Turkey is slowing down if not prohibiting the entry of Kurd friendly Sweden and [Finland] into NATO.

• The U.S. weapon deliveries to Ukraine will stop on May 19 unless Congress passes authority for new ones.

• Senator Rand Paul has held up the required bill with the quite reasonable demand to have a inspector general scrutinize where the $40 billion 'for Ukraine' will be going. The Democrats will certainly dislike that.

• U.S. gasoline prices have hit a record high.

• European natural gas prices have also jumped after the Ukraine blocked the flow from Russia through one of the pipelines and while the flow through the Yamal pipeline in Poland has been stopped due to Russian counter sanctions.

• Le Monde has verified and published a video that shows a Ukrainian 'volunteer battalion', led by a known criminal, torturing Russian prisoners of war.

• Russia has published new material about the U.S. military biological 'research' in Ukraine. Other countries will also have questions about these activities.