After more than a year of pursuing a negotiated track to bring Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to a fair conclusion, it is clear that Russian leader Vladimir Putin has no real interest in reaching an agreement. Throughout this period, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly demonstrated his country’s willingness to pursue peace, agreeing to every ceasefire proposal, confidence-building measure, and exploratory dialogue put forward by US President Donald Trump. Putin, by contrast, has stalled, delayed, and engaged in talks only to prolong the conflict rather than resolve it.
Russia has learned that negotiations can be used as a weapon—buying time, exhausting Western patience, and hoping that divisions in the transatlantic community continue to grow. As long as the costs of continuing the war remain manageable, the Kremlin has little incentive to negotiate in good faith. If Trump wants to change Moscow’s calculus, Russia must be made to feel that the price of war is becoming unacceptably high.