Russia Plays for Time at Ceasefire Talks as Putin Eyes More Gains in Ukraine

Real diplomatic breakthrough feasible only when Trump meets face to face with Putin

- Jonathan Eyal

BRUSSELS - Another week of false hopes ended in Europe with the failure of Russia and Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire that could stop their war.

After meeting on May 16 in the Turkish city of Istanbul — the first such direct encounter in three years — all that the Russian and Ukrainian representatives could claim as achievements was a deal for each side to release 1,000 war prisoners, and a vague promise to meet again at some future, unspecified date.

Nobody in Europe is surprised by the failure of the talks to end the war. That is because all the bewildering diplomatic activities by both Russia and Ukraine and their supporters over the past week were not about agreeing to a ceasefire but avoiding being blamed by US President Donald Trump for the continuation of the bloodshed.

And it is becoming increasingly clear that a real diplomatic breakthrough will be feasible only when Mr. Trump meets face to face with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The past week began with what seemed like a diplomatic coup by Ukraine and its European backers. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk arrived in Kyiv on May 10 to present Russia with a challenge: They demanded Mr. Putin's unconditional acceptance of an immediate ceasefire.

Their appeal echoed Mr. Trump's demands for a ceasefire in almost the exact words, and the Europeans made sure that everyone would notice this fact.

The Europeans' primary purpose was to curry favour with the US President and persuade him that the chief obstacle to a cessation of hostilities was not Ukraine, as Mr. Trump had previously alleged, but Russia.