Another round of so-called peace talks between Ukrainian and Russian negotiators in a fancy hotel in Istanbul has come and gone. This one lasted less than two hours Monday.
It was another chance for Russian diplomats to say “nyet’’ to an unconditional cease-fire in this unprovoked war of attrition initiated more than three years ago by Moscow.
President Trump should take the hint. Russia isn’t going to stop unless and until the United States resumes enough diplomatic and military support for Ukraine to convince Vladimir Putin that war isn’t worth it.
The diplomatic stalemate followed an offensive by Russia on key Ukrainian territory. That, in turn, was followed by a dramatic drone attack by Kyiv deep into Russian territory Sunday, taking out by all accounts a fair number of Russian military aircraft. But as cleverly executed as the drone attack was, Ukrainians know there will be a price to be paid on its own territory by the nation led by Putin — a nation that heeds no rules of war, that attacks civilian targets at will, and stands accused by the International Criminal Court of kidnapping Ukrainian children.
And so it goes.
President Trump, who vowed during his campaign to end the bloody conflict on “day one,’’ has found Putin not exactly susceptible to the “art of the deal’’ — despite Trump’s obvious efforts to stack the diplomatic deck in the Russian leader’s favor. No, now Trump has gone on social media describing Putin as having “gone absolutely CRAZY’’ and alternately threatened to walk away or impose sanctions on Russia.
The latter, of course, actually do have a chance to move the needle — even a handful of Republican leaders like Senator Lindsey Graham have developed enough political courage to say so.
“It’s clear to me — and I think it’s becoming clear to President Trump — that the Russians are playing games,’’ Graham told The Wall Street Journal.
But the bill Graham is proposing — which now has 82 cosponsors — isn’t moving until Trump says he wants it to move.
Thus the threat — new sanctions on Russia and tariffs on countries that purchase Russian oil, gas, and uranium — remains just a threat.
“He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers. Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever,’’ Trump said of Putin in a Truth Social post.
But what has the dealmaker-in-chief done about that?
Arms shipments to Ukraine remain at a standstill. Despite congressional authorization for an additional $3.85 billion in withdrawals from the Defense Department’s stockpiles for Kyiv, nothing has moved.
Ukraine is particularly in need of more Patriot missiles and launchers for its air defense system.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a recent Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that the United States doesn’t have more missiles to give, and urged NATO countries to provide them from their stockpiles
Yes, a nation that was once considered the greatest military power in the world is now asking others to pass the hat for Ukraine military assistance.
The Europeans, being on the front lines of the horror that Putin has unleashed on Ukraine, have indeed stepped up — both for Ukraine and in taking seriously their own need for self-defense.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, announcing his new defense plans Monday, said, “The threat we now face is more serious, more immediate and more unpredictable than at any time since the Cold War.’’
He cited “war in Europe, new nuclear risks, daily cyberattacks,’’ and “growing Russian aggression,’’ in British waters and skies.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told a news conference Monday in Lithuania — one attended by most of NATO’s Baltic and Nordic nations and by President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine — “Dear Volodymyr, we continue to support Ukraine. We know that a strong, sovereign Ukraine is essential for Euro-Atlantic security.’’
Ukraine’s needs are expected to be high on the agenda for the NATO summit in the Hague at the end of June, he assured, “making sure that Ukraine has what it needs to stay in the fight, to be able to bring this terrible Russian war of aggression against Ukraine to an end which has to be lasting, which has to be durable.’’
There was a time when those would be the words, the enduring message, coming from the White House — a message of peace through strength and engagement with allies.
Trump has been all about making America great again — or so he says. But America can not stand proudly on the world stage if it stands alone, abandoning allies and allegiances that go back decades.
Putin has made himself and his unbridled ambitions abundantly clear. He isn’t crazy, he’s simply ruthless. Trump can continue to allow Putin to play him like a well-tuned Stradivarius or he can use the tools at his disposal — sanctions on Russia, tariffs on nations that buy energy from Russia, and the release of military aid to Ukraine — and actually show he means business this time.
Editorials represent the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Board. Follow us @GlobeOpinion.
