Three months into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, America and its allies are quietly debating the inevitable question: How does this end?
In recent days, presidents and prime ministers as well as the Democratic and Republican party leaders in the United States have called for victory in Ukraine. But just beneath the surface are real divisions about what that would look like — and whether "victory” has the same definition in the United States, in Europe and, perhaps most importantly, in Ukraine.
In the past few days alone there has been an Italian proposal for a ceasefire, a vow from Ukraine’s leadership to push Russia back to the borders that existed before the invasion was launched on Feb. 24, and renewed discussion by administration officials about a "strategic defeat” for President Vladimir Putin — one that would assure that he is incapable of mounting a similar attack again.