Why Nobody Can End the War in Ukraine

Why Nobody Can End the War in Ukraine

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Argument: Why Nobody Can End the War in Ukraine

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Argument

An expert’s point of view on a current event.

Why Nobody Can End the War in Ukraine

It’s in everyone’s interest to stop the fighting. That’s still not enough.

!Walt-Steve-foreign-policy-columnist20

*Walt-Steve-foreign-policy-columnist20*

*Stephen M. Walt*

By **Stephen M. Walt**, a columnist at *Foreign Policy* and the Robert and Renée Belfer professor of international relations at Harvard University.

!This combination of pictures created on August 18, 2025 shows US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington, DC, on August 18, 2025 and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15, 2025. US President Donald Trump said August 18 he had started arranging a two-way peace meeting between Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia's Vladimir Putin -- to be followed by three-way talks involving himself."At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky," Trump said after hosting Zelensky and European leaders at the White House."After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself."European leaders join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in talks with US President Donald Trump on August 18, as they try to find a way to end Russia's offensive. The leaders heading to Washington on Monday to appear alongside Zelensky call themselves the "coalition of the willing." Putin is in Alaska at the invitation of Trump in his first visit to a Western country since he ordered the 2022 invasion of Ukraine that has killed tens of thousands of people.

*This combination of pictures created on August 18, 2025 shows US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington, DC, on August 18, 2025 and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15, 2025. US President Donald Trump said August 18 he had started arranging a two-way peace meeting between Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia's Vladimir Putin -- to be followed by three-way talks involving himself."At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky," Trump said after hosting Zelensky and European leaders at the White House."After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself."European leaders join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in talks with US President Donald Trump on August 18, as they try to find a way to end Russia's offensive. The leaders heading to Washington on Monday to appear alongside Zelensky call themselves the "coalition of the willing." Putin is in Alaska at the invitation of Trump in his first visit to a Western country since he ordered the 2022 invasion of Ukraine that has killed tens of thousands of people.*

This combination of pictures created on August 18, 2025 shows US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington, DC, on August 18, 2025 and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, on August 15, 2025. US President Donald Trump said August 18 he had started arranging a two-way peace meeting between Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and Russia's Vladimir Putin -- to be followed by three-way talks involving himself."At the conclusion of the meetings, I called President Putin, and began the arrangements for a meeting, at a location to be determined, between President Putin and President Zelensky," Trump said after hosting Zelensky and European leaders at the White House."After that meeting takes place, we will have a Trilat, which would be the two Presidents, plus myself."European leaders join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in talks with US President Donald Trump on August 18, as they try to find a way to end Russia's offensive. The leaders heading to Washington on Monday to appear alongside Zelensky call themselves the "coalition of the willing." Putin is in Alaska at the invitation of Trump in his first visit to a Western country since he ordered the 2022 invasion of Ukraine that has killed tens of thousands of people. ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images

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September 29, 2026, 3:35 AM

It’s been over a year since I wrote anything lengthy about the war in Ukraine, and I regret the omission. Other events have captured my attention, alas, even though the conflict is a continuing tragedy and is still casting a significant shadow over events elsewhere. Our fearless leader Ravi Agrawal’s recent account of his visit brought my attention back and led me to reflect on where the conflict is today and what might be done to bring it to an end after nearly five years.

Anyone who approaches this topic should do so with humility, for no one has gotten everything right. I didn’t think Russian President Vladimir Putin would invade in 2022, for example, because I thought such a step would be a blunder and leave Russia worse off in the long run. I still think I was right about that, but obviously wrong about Putin’s calculations. Since then, legions of policymakers and pundits have repeatedly failed to see where things were going, ping-ponging between unrealistic optimism and doom-and-gloom defeatism. And the people in charge are no better: Putin miscalculated in thinking the war would be over in a few days, the Biden adminis