Ukraine and Russia Can Find Peace With a DMZ
The Korean War offers a model for a cease-fire between Ukraine and Russia.
Has Ukraine had enough?
Photographer: Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images
During the election campaign, former and future President Donald Trump said he would stop the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. While that seems highly unlikely, it is clear that the new administration is extremely skeptical of continuing significant US military aid to Kyiv. Trump and his vice president, JD Vance, have talked about pushing both sides to the negotiating table early in 2025.
This isn’t hopeless: The chances of both sides being willing to negotiate next year are increasing. Russian President Vladimir Putin insists he is willing to grind away indefinitely, but mounting personnel losses will make that difficult. Roughly 200,000 young Russian men have been killed in action, with probably double that number seriously wounded. And more than 500,000 people have departed the country, many of them young men escaping the draft. The arrival of up to 100,000 North Korean troops to help alleviate the problem is an admission of Russian weakness.