An intense week of negotiations over Russia’s war in Ukraine opens today, as US President Donald Trump’s envoy heads to Moscow and France hosts Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The shuttle diplomacy suggests some measure of progress in negotiations to pause the nearly four-year war — US and Ukrainian officials hailed “productive” meetings in Florida over the weekend — but risks mistaking activity for achievement.
Huge challenges remain, ranging from disputes over key issues in a purported truce deal, what experts describe as the Kremlin’s maximalist demands for territorial concessions from Kyiv, European demands that Russian President Vladimir Putin be prosecuted for war crimes, and a growing push within NATO to take a more “aggressive” stance towards Russian hybrid warfare.