Joshua Yaffa (SIPA ’08, Journalism ’07), a contributing writer at The New Yorker, interviewed President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine for the magazine. Issues ranged from how to end the war with Russia and Putin’s empty rhetoric to what the U.S. election could mean for the fate of his country (New Yorker, Sept. 22, 2024).

The fact that Ukraine desires a just victory is not the issue; the issue is that Putin has zero desire to end the war on any reasonable terms at all. If the world is united against him, he feigns an interest in dialogue—“I’m ready to negotiate, let’s do it, let’s sit down together”—but this is just talk. It’s empty rhetoric, a fiction, that keeps the world from standing together with Ukraine and isolating Putin. He pretends to open the door to dialogue, and those countries that seek a geopolitical balance—China, for one, but also some other Asian and African states—say, “Ah, see, he hears us and he’s ready to negotiate.” But it is all just appearance.