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Putin’s Art of No Deal

Putin has responded to Washington and Kyiv’s ceasefire proposal by doing what he does best: dragging negotiators into diplomatic purgatory while continuing to fight.

Vladimir Putin
Putin hasn’t rejected the more immediate ceasefire proposal, which would only piss off Trump and prove Ukraine’s point that Putin is against peace and negotiating in bad faith. Photo: MIKHAIL METZEL/POOL/AFP/Getty Images
Julia Ioffe
March 13, 2025

Earlier this week, after hammering out a vaguely worded ceasefire proposal with Ukraine to stop a war that Russia started, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that he was eager to hear the Russian response. A “no,” he said, would “tell us a lot about what their goals are and what their mindset is.” Well, the suspense is over, kind of. After meeting with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff, Putin said he was open to a ceasefire—kind of.