Germany, France, the U.K. and Poland outmaneuvered the Kremlin by persuading Ukraine’s Zelensky to accept Trump’s cease-fire demand. Russia’s leader balked.

The first high-level talks between Russia and Ukraine since the early months of Moscow's 2022 invasion showed they are far from agreement on steps needed for a ceasefire, even though they promised a major swap of prisoners of war.

Kyiv accused the Kremlin of introducing new “unacceptable demands” to withdraw Ukrainian forces from huge swaths of territory, collapsing the talks.