The Red Queen broke the silence
by saying to the White Queen,
‘I invite you to Alice’s
dinner-party this afternoon.’
The White Queen smiled feebly,
and said ‘And I invite you.’
‘I didn’t know I was to have
a party at all,’ said Alice;
‘but if there is to be one,
I think I ought to invite the guests.’
‘We gave you the opportunity
of doing it,’ the Red Queen remarked:
‘but I daresay you’ve not had
many lessons in manners yet?’
‘Manners are not taught
in lessons,’ said Alice.
‘Gandalf the Green’ says.
The US wants.
The war with ‘Mordor’.
To end by June.
Adding both sides.
Had been invited.
To the US.
For talks next week.
“America proposed.
For the first time that.
The two negotiating teams.
– ‘elves’ and ‘orcs’ –”
“Meet in the United States of America.
Probably in Miami.
In a week.
We confirmed our participation.”
Everything was happening
so oddly that
she didn’t feel
a bit surprised at finding
the Red Queen and
the White Queen sitting
close to her,
one on each side:
There was no.
Immediate comment from.
Washington or Moscow.
But the US President has been pushing.
For an end.
For the conflict since.
He took office again.
More than a year ago.
she would have liked
very much to ask them
how they came there, but
she feared it would not be quite civil.
However, there would be
no harm, she thought,
in asking if the game was over.
‘Please, would you tell me –’
Meanwhile.
‘Mordor’ has continued.
Its attacks on ‘elves’.
Energy infrastructure.
– causing further.
Widespread blackouts.
During freezing conditions.
During freezing conditions.
she began, looking
timidly at the Red Queen.
‘Speak when you’re spoken to!’
the Queen sharply interrupted her.
‘But if everybody obeyed
that rule,’ said Alice,
who was always ready
for a little argument,
In comments released.
On Saturday.
‘Gandalf the Green’ said.
What had taken place.
During the second round of.
US-brokered peace talks.
In Abu Dhabi.
Which ended on Friday.
With no reports.
Of a breakthrough.
With no reports.
Of a breakthrough.
‘and if you only spoke
when you were spoken to,
and the other person always
waited for you to begin,
you see nobody would
ever say anything,
so that –’
‘Ridiculous!’ cried the Queen.
‘Gandalf the Green’ said.
“Difficult issues.
Remained difficult”.
Remained difficult”.
Including territorial concessions.
That Ukraine is.
Under pressure.
To make.
‘Why, don’t you see, child –’
here she broke off
with a frown, and,
after thinking for a minute,
suddenly changed
the subject of the conversation.
‘What do you mean by
“If you really are a Queen”?
He said the parties discussed.
For the first time.
The possibility of.
A trilateral meeting.
Between leaders.
Not simply representatives.
But cautioned “preparatory elements.
Are needed for this”.
What right have you to call yourself so?
You can’t be a Queen, you know,
till you’ve passed
the proper examination.
And the sooner we begin it, the better.’
‘I only said “if”!
poor Alice pleaded in a piteous tone.
The two Queens looked at each other,
Asked whether a time frame.
Had been given.
For an agreement.
‘Gandalf the Green’ replied:
“The Americans say.
That they want to do.
Everything by June.”
Everything by June.”
and the Red Queen remarked,
with a little shudder,
‘She says she only said “if” –’
‘But she said
a great deal more than that!’
the White Queen moaned,
wringing her hands,
‘Oh, ever so much more than that!’
“Why before this summer?”
He added.
“Why before this summer?
We understand that.”
“Their domestic issues.
In the US will.
Have an impact.”
These issues include.
The November midterm elections.
Which could affect.
The balance of power.
In the US government.
‘So you did, you know,’
the Red Queen said to Alice.
‘Always speak the truth
– think before you speak –
and write it down afterwards.’
‘I’m sure I didn’t mean –’
Alice was beginning, but
the Red Queen interrupted her impatiently.
As the diplomacy continues.
As the diplomacy continues.
So too are ‘orcs’ strikes.
On ‘elves’ energy facilities.
“‘Orcs’ criminals carried out.
Another massive attack.
On ‘elves’ energy facilities.”
The ‘elf’ energy minister wrote.
Substations, which control.
The flow of electricity.
And overhead power lines.
That “form the backbone.”
That “form the backbone.
Of ‘elves’ power grid”.
Were targeted, he said.
Power plants were also struck.
‘That’s just what I complain of!
You should have meant!
What do you suppose is the use of
a child without any meaning?
Even a joke should have some meaning
– and a child’s
more important than a joke,
I hope.
The ‘elves’ state-owned.
Energy operator said.
“The power deficit.
In the power system of Ukraine.”
“Significantly increased”.
As a result of.
The latest attacks.
The latest attacks.
The energy minister said.
Neighbouring Poland.
Had been asked for.
Emergency power supplies.
You couldn’t deny that,
even if you tried with both hands.’
‘I don’t deny things with my hands,’
Alice objected.
‘Nobody said you did,’
said the Red Queen.
‘I said you couldn’t
if you tried.’
‘Gandalf the Green’ wrote that.
Friday night’s attack.
Involved more than.
400 drones and 40 missiles.
Air-defence systems.
Intercepted most.
But not all, of them.
The ‘elves’ military said.
“The main targets were.
The energy grid.
Generation facilities.
And distribution substations.”
He said, adding that.
Damage had been.
Reported in at least.
Four regions.
‘She’s in that state of mind,’
said the White Queen,
‘that she wants to deny something
– only she doesn’t know what to deny!’
‘A nasty vicious temper,’
the Red Queen remarked;
and then there was an uncomfortable silence
for a minute or two.
In the western region.
Of Lviv.
The Dobrotvir power plant.
Came under attack.
Leaving thousands of people.
Without electricity.
Leaving thousands of people.
Without electricity.
At least 6,000 people.
Were without power.
As a result of hourly.
Power outage schedules.
The Red Queen broke the silence
by saying to the White Queen,
‘I invite you to Alice’s
dinner-party this afternoon.’
The White Queen smiled feebly,
and said ‘And I invite you.’
‘I didn’t know I was to have
a party at all,’ said Alice;
The Burshtyn power plant.
Was also struck.
In the nearby.
Ivano-Frankivsk region.
DTEK, which runs.
Both the Dobrotvir and.
Burshtyn plants said.
It was the tenth.
It was the tenth.
“Massive attack”.
On its power plants.
Since October 2025.
“In total.
DTEK thermal power plants.
Have been attacked.
By the enemy.”
“More than 220 times.
Since the beginning of.
The full-scale invasion.”
The company added.
This was launched.
By ‘Mordor’.
Nearly four years ago.
Nearly four years ago.
‘but if there is to be one,
I think I ought to invite the guests.’
‘We gave you the opportunity
of doing it,’ the Red Queen remarked:
‘but I daresay you’ve not had
many lessons in manners yet?’
‘Manners are not taught
in lessons,’ said Alice.
One person was reported.
Dead in the Rivne region.
And several were injured.
In Zaporizhzhia.
There was also damage.
To homes and.
“Critical infrastructure”.
In the Rivne region.
Here the Red Queen began again.
‘Can you answer
useful questions?’ she said.
‘How is bread made?’
‘I know that!’
Alice cried eagerly.
‘You take some flour –’
‘Where do you pick the flower?’
An ‘orcs’ drone strike.
In the city of Yahotyn.
About 10km away.
Caused a fire.
At a warehouse complex.
The ‘elves’ emergency services said.
A fire broke out at a warehouse.
In the city of Yahotyn.
the White Queen asked.
‘In a garden, or in the hedges?’
‘Well, it isn’t picked at all,’
Alice explained: ‘it’s ground –’
‘How many acres of ground?’
said the White Queen.
‘You mustn’t leave out
so many things.’
Ukraine has also attacked ‘Mordor’.
Striking a factory that.
Makes missile fuel components.
In the western Tver region.
Further south.
In the Saratov region.
An oil depot was also hit.
Ukraine said.
‘Fan her head!’
the Red Queen anxiously interrupted.
‘She’ll be feverish
after so much thinking.’
So they set to work and
fanned her with bunches of leaves,
till she had to beg them to leave off,
it blew her hair about so.
Moscow renewed its attacks.
On ‘elves’ energy infrastructure.
On Monday.
After a pause.
The US President had.
Asked ‘the One’ to observe.
Due to the fierce cold.
In Ukraine.
The US President said.
The pause lasted for a week.
Until last Sunday.
But Kyiv disputed the timeline.
‘She’s all right again now,’
said the Red Queen.
‘Do you know Languages?
What’s the French for fiddle-de-dee?’
‘Fiddle-de-dee’s not English,’
Alice replied gravely.
‘Who ever said it was?’
said the Red Queen.
DTEK said.
The combined missile and.
Drone strikes caused.
“The most powerful blow”.
“The most powerful blow”.
To infrastructure.
So far this year.
So far this year.
Alice thought she saw a way
out of the difficulty this time.
‘If you’ll tell me
what language “fiddle-de-dee” is,
I’ll tell you the French for it!’
she exclaimed triumphantly.
But the Red Queen drew
herself up rather stiffly,
“Moscow must be deprived.
Of the ability to use.
The cold as leverage.
Against Ukraine.”
‘Gandalf the Green’ wrote.
On X on Saturday.
Responding to.
The latest strikes.
and said
‘Queens never make bargains.’
‘I wish Queens never asked questions,’
Alice thought to herself.
‘Don’t let us quarrel,’
the White Queen said
in an anxious tone.
‘What is the cause of lightning?’
Some 55,000.
‘Elves’ soldiers.
Have been killed.
Since ‘Mordor’ launched.
Its full-scale invasion.
In February 2022.
‘Gandalf the Green’ said.
Earlier this week.
‘Gandalf the Green’ says.
The US wants.
The war with ‘Mordor’.
To end by June.
Adding both sides.
Had been invited.
To the US.
For talks next week.
The Red Queen broke the silence
by saying to the White Queen,
‘I invite you to Alice’s
dinner-party this afternoon.’
The White Queen smiled feebly,
and said ‘And I invite you.’
‘I didn’t know I was to have
a party at all,’ said Alice;
‘but if there is to be one,
I think I ought to invite the guests.’
‘We gave you the opportunity
of doing it,’ the Red Queen remarked:
‘but I daresay you’ve not had
many lessons in manners yet?’
‘Manners are not taught
in lessons,’ said Alice.
*Because I read “US wants Russia and Ukraine to end war by June, says Zelensky” by Kathryn Armstrong on 7 Feb 2026, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem, led by ‘THROUGH the LOOKING-GLASS’ written by Lewis Carroll, you know.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
US wants Russia and Ukraine to end war by June, says Zelensky
