The relationship between US President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky has unquestionably improved but the real prize Kyiv seeks seems out of its reach, for now.
After nine months of extraordinary diplomatic acrobatics and verbiage, Trump still prefers to give Russian President Vladimir Putin yet another chance to talk him around, over blunt military escalation.
But there were – among the fawning compliments and the conviction an elusive peace was near – bits of good news for Ukraine. Even Trump’s final word on the matter, a Truth Social post delivered as he left for Mar-a-Lago, suggested “They should stop where they are” – a ceasefire along current battle lines,…
