The wife of the fallen soldier Vitalii Dobrovolskyi receives the flag during the funeral ceremony at the military cemetery in Lviv. December 8, 2023. public domain, photo: Roman Baluk / the Collection of war.ukraine.ua

Christopher S Chivvis, a senior fellow and director of the Carnegie Endowment’s American statecraft program, at The Guardian asks whether the war on Ukraine will escalate or end.  Excerpt:

To be sure, how Trump’s plans to end the war are still murky. A reasonable objective would be a ceasefire that preserves Ukraine’s sovereignty and the prospect that it may one day join the European Union – even if not Nato. But the Cabinet Trump has named is a mix of attitudes about Ukraine and Russia. Some, such as Tulsi Gabbard, might be satisfied to just cede all of Ukraine to Russia. Others, such as Marco Rubio and Michael Waltz, are likely to want a more hard-nosed approach.

If faced with the prospect of a major Russian victory early in his administration, even Trump may prefer a tougher line with the Kremlin – if only to avoid the optics that Biden suffered during the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Just weeks after Trump takes office, the war in Ukraine will enter its fourth year. Soon after that it will have lasted longer than the US was in the second world war. Hundreds of thousands have died and millions of lives have been shattered. Security in Europe has not been improved by the fighting. Globally, the war has encouraged a dangerous, tightening bond between Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. The Kremlin is still to blame for the war, but for the sake of the US, Europe, and the world, it’s time to start taking serious steps to bring it to an end.

Slava Ukraine!