In early February, Bernie Sanders advocated US involvement in peace talks to head off an “enormously destructive war” in Ukraine. We should have listened.
I’m not convinced that was the right move at the time. That was in February, before Ukraine managed to successfully repel what appeared to be an attempt to install a puppet government. Moscow had spent years getting their invasion in place, and Ukraine managed to repel the worst of it. If Ukraine had instead asked for peace talks preemptively, I think it’s likely Moscow would demand poison pill after poison pill. When Ukraine finally rejected it, Russia could declare the talks as failed and invade as planned.
I’m not convinced that was the right move at the time. That was in February, before Ukraine managed to successfully repel what appeared to be an attempt to install a puppet government. Moscow had spent years getting their invasion in place, and Ukraine managed to repel the worst of it. If Ukraine had instead asked for peace talks preemptively, I think it’s likely Moscow would demand poison pill after poison pill. When Ukraine finally rejected it, Russia could declare the talks as failed and invade as planned.