After more than three years of stalled diplomacy, the past few days have brought a flurry of activity in the Russia-Ukraine peace process – sadly none of it with any meaningful progress. The much-anticipated Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Istanbul – billed as the first serious negotiations since 2022 – came and went with little more than symbolic fanfare. The subsequent two-hour phone call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin on Monday concluded with Trump appearing to withdraw from mediating the peace talks altogether. Once again, the Russian president got what he wanted without even showing up to a meeting that he himself requested.
Trump’s statement that “the conditions for [the peace] will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be” sounded like the opposite of his boast last year that only he could end this war, and in a single day at that. Even more jarring was Trump’s emphasis on the economic opportunities that Russia offers – tone-deaf, given the scale of Russian atrocities, and a slap in the face to the US’s European allies.
