Overview

• A Baltimore Sun commentary reports President Trump met separately with Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy and convened European and NATO leaders with Zelenskyy for talks billed as the most significant peace diplomacy since 2014.
• In The Hill, political scientist Alexander J. Motyl contends Putin will not choose a durable peace on his own and says only coordinated coercion that arms Ukraine can bring Russia to serious negotiations.
• The same analysis cites drivers of Kremlin intransigence, including Putin’s personal stake in the war, a war‑dependent economy, fears of demobilized troops, and the regime’s need for great‑power prestige.
• Commentary notes a grinding stalemate with more than a million casualties and describes Russia’s reliance on drone and missile strikes against cities, with diplomacy presented as the only realistic path to end the conflict.
• Letters in the Los Angeles Times reject talk of a Nobel for Trump, warn that territorial concessions would reward invasion and could embolden China, and dispute claims about continued U.S. arms support to Kyiv.