That will take some doing. Putin remains uninterested in peace talks as long as Russian troops continue to gain ground in Ukraine’s east, albeit at a slow pace, and while Ukrainian forces hold seized territory in the Kursk region inside Russia, according to John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, and other former officials.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has said he would agree to direct talks with Vladimir Putin to end the war only if some certain people are

December and January were the two bloodiest months of the entire conflict with more than 96,000 Russians killed, wounded or captured.