EDITOR PICKS: Foreign Affairs

 

June 14, 2024  |  View in Browser

This weekend, high-level officials from over 70 countries will convene in Switzerland for a peace summit on the war in Ukraine, which is nearing its 28th month. The goal of the conference, according to Swiss authorities, is to establish a “roadmap” toward a “lasting peace” that both Kyiv and Moscow can sign on to in the future. But with neither U.S. President Joe Biden nor Russian officials planning on attending—Moscow not having been invited—it remains unclear whether the summit will move either side any closer to a resolution. In fact, this is not the first time officials have worked to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. A few months ago, Samuel Charap and Sergey Radchenko got their hands on draft peace agreements between Moscow and Kyiv that had been exchanged just weeks after Russia launched its invasion. “After the past two years of carnage,” Ukraine and Russia’s near-settlement in the spring of 2022 “may be so much water under the bridge,” they write. “But it is a reminder that Putin and Zelensky were willing to consider extraordinary compromises to end the war.”  Start reading this, and other Foreign Affairs essays about potential ways the war in Ukraine could end, below.

The Talks That Could Have Ended the War in Ukraine A Hidden History of Diplomacy That Came Up Short—but Holds Lessons for Future Negotiations By Samuel Charap and Sergey Radchenko

Why China Is Sabotaging Ukraine Beijing Has No Interest in a Peace Agreement It Can’t Help Broker By Alexander Gabuev

How to Convince Putin He Will Lose The West Must Show That It Can Outlast Russia in Ukraine By Dan Altman