Chess with Barbarians: Expert Explains Why Ukraine Declared a Ceasefire That Russia Immediately Violated

Political strategist Mikhail Sheitelman explained that announcing a ceasefire on May 6 was a strong diplomatic move that now removes responsibility from Ukraine for any strikes on May 9, according to Politeka.

He spoke about this on his blog.

“I wouldn’t agree that it’s impossible to play chess with barbarians. Yes, you can’t win a game of chess against barbarians, but when we play something — politics, ceasefires, and so on — we play for other people, for the audience, for our allies. Not for the Russians; we do not believe them. But look at the reactions,” explained Mikhail Sheitelman.

As a result, the expert emphasized, Europe welcomed Ukraine’s ceasefire initiative, and Donald Trump de facto welcomed it as well. The Estonian foreign minister, he noted, reacted to the Russian strike on Ukrainian regions by calling on Russia to join the ceasefire and demonstrate that it is serious about peace rather than merely symbolic celebrations. The Norwegian foreign minister also urged Russia to join the ceasefire announced by Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

In other words, the expert explained, Ukraine is playing this political chess game so that leaders of civilized countries will say that Ukraine made a strong diplomatic move and will call on Russia to join it.

“Of course, we are doing this for them. And secondly, we have removed responsibility from ourselves. You understand that now nobody will accuse us of failing to comply with something, or not wanting peace, or claim that Putin wanted peace and we did not. No — it was Russia that failed to uphold the ceasefire terms. That’s how we conduct ourselves in relation to civilization,” concluded Mikhail Sheitelman.