Russia's maximalist demands undermine peace talks despite mounting domestic strains

The talks in Istanbul are certain to demonstrate yet again the huge gap between the Ukrainian position on terminating the hostilities and the Russian position on maximizing the gains from the protracted war. The illumination of Ukraine’s readiness to compromise and Russia’s intransigence, however, is more important. Moscow may hope that this inflexibility amounts to asserting its position of strength, but it disappoints many states interested in an armistice, including Türkiye, which will host and mediate the talks, and even the People’s Republic of China, which notes that its clearly expressed preference for ending the war is ignored (The Global Times, May 30). Collective effort is hard to orchestrate, but various actors can prove in different ways that time is not on Russia’s side.