Ukraine-Russia War Enters "Mercurial Phase"

Deep strikes mean peace talks are effectively dead

Since Donald Trump became President-elect almost two weeks ago, a flurry of activity has taken place around the Ukraine war, much of it focused on ending the fighting. All of these events, connected in the background, have been “conflicting signals,” keeping everybody confused as to what will happen next in Eastern Europe.

Some of the main events have been:

• Officials in the Trump camp proposing “freezing” the conflict, akin to what exists on the Korean Peninsula, forcing Kyiv to accept peace and forgo land that Russia now controls. One of the ideas is to freeze Ukraine’s bid for NATO membership for up to 20 years.