Smoke billows into the sky following Ukrainian drone strikes on warehouses of Russia’s online retailer Wildberries, in St. Petersburg, Russia, on July 24, 2026, with St. Isaac’s Cathedral seen in foreground.
(UGC via AP)
Despite successful Ukrainian drone strikes, it’s unlikely either Vladimir Putin’s regime or the Russia-Ukraine war will end any time soon.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha, left, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio attend a G7 session on Ukraine and defence co-operation during the G7 Foreign Ministers meeting in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., on Nov. 12, 2025.
(Mandel Ngan/Pool Photo via AP)
Expectations for peace between Russia and Ukraine should be tempered until there’s a presidential summit between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Vladimir Putin and until their signatures are on a treaty.
U.S. President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin before an ostensible peace meeting in August 2025 in Alaska.
(AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
The aborted Hungarian summit between Putin and Trump reflects more on how Putin has tried to manage his relationship with Trump to gain other geopolitical benefits.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Saudi National Security Advisor Mosaad bin Mohammad Al-Aiban, U.S. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov at Diriyah Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday Feb. 18, 2025.
Evelyn Hockstein/Pool Photo via AP
Although a ceasefire and negotiations may be a good first step, any chance at lasting peace in Russia’s war in Ukraine requires consideration of Russian war crimes.
Cups depicting Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and Russian President Vladimir Putin are displayed for sale at a souvenir shop in St. Petersburg, Russia, in
2022. The words on the Putin cup reads ‘The most polite man.’
(AP Photo)
Although tempting to make the comparison, Vladimir Putin’s recent military purge doesn’t appear to be a replay of Stalin’s infamous purge in 1937.
A Ukrainian mother sobs at the funeral of her son in Irpin, near Kyiv, on Feb. 14, 2023. He was a civilian who was a volunteer in the armed forces of Ukraine and died fighting in the Bakhmut area of the country.
(AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Calls for peace that suggest Ukraine should give up territory simply to end the war will condemn some Ukrainians to unspeakable horrors and provide a precarious foundation for lasting peace.
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers his speech during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia, on May 9, 2021, marking the 76th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe.
(Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Russia’s take on the Second World War is not merely for nationalist consumption. The actions of the Soviet Union in defeating Nazi Germany appear to be a blueprint for the Russian attack on Ukraine.
