What if Putin Doesn’t Want Peace?

As the Ukraine war rages for a third year, with casualties well into the hundreds of thousands, some Americans argue that the United States should pursue peace via negotiations, instead of helping Ukraine fight off Russia’s invasion.

It’s a common position among the Republican Party’s dominant MAGA wing—for example, Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ) argued that military aid for Ukraine “should be totally off the table and replaced with a push for peace talks”—as well as the “anti-war” left, and some self-styled “realists.”

The underlying logic is that American support makes the Ukrainians overconfident—including in 2023’s costly and largely unsuccessful counteroffensive—and the U.S. doesn’t mind sacrificing an indefinite number of Ukrainians to hurt Russia. Therefore, weakening Ukraine by withdrawing aid would encourage them to pursue reasonable accommodation. In this vision, Ukraine concedes land Russia currently controls and formally promises never to join NATO, the U.S. guarantees it, and the violence finally ends.

Read more at The Daily Beast.