Vladimir Putin has declared there is “no point” in meeting Volodymyr Zelensky. The Russian president used a press conference in Moscow to pour cold water on any immediate diplomatic reset. No handshake. No peace summit. Not now.
Sources inside Downing Street say the message landed with a dull thud. No one expected a breakthrough. But the blunt dismissal signals something darker. The Kremlin is hunkering down for a long war of attrition. They think they can outlast the West.
Real power lies in the numbers. Not the rhetoric. And the numbers on the ground are brutal. Ukraine’s counter-offensive has stalled. Russian forces are grinding forward in the east. Casualties are climbing on both sides. This is 1916 with drones.
What does Putin gain by talking? Nothing. He believes time is on his side. Western support for Ukraine is fraying. US aid is stuck in Congress. European stocks are running low. Putin sees the polls. He reads the political tea leaves.
Zelensky, for his part, still wants a face-to-face. He believes only a direct conversation can unlock a deal. But he’s losing leverage. The battlefield is not delivering the victories he promised. His own generals are complaining about tactics.
Inside the Lobby, the chatter is about “Ukraine fatigue.” Not loud. But audible. Tory backbenchers are grumbling about spending. Labour is still publicly hawkish, but privately worried about the optics of endless war.
The Whitehall view is bleak. No diplomatic off-ramp in sight. The conflict is set to freeze into a permanent stalemate. A frozen conflict with a hot border. Putin can wait. Zelensky cannot.
So where does this leave the West? In a bind. Do we double down or seek an exit? The PM’s team insists the UK line is rock solid. Support as long as it takes. But definitions have a habit of shifting.
One senior defence source put it bluntly: “We’re in this for years, not months. The public needs to understand that.” The question is whether the public, and politicians, have the stomach for it.
Putin just made it clear he does not. He’s betting we don’t either.
