The latest attempt to push Russia and Ukraine towards peace, envisioned by Donald Trump, the president of the United States of America, appears to be headed in the familiar direction of a stalemate. Mr Trump's initial 28-point proposal echoed many of Russia's principal demands. Ukraine was asked to give up claims not only to territory Russia has occupied but also some stretches in the Donbass region that Kyiv's military still controls; accept a constitutional amendment agreeing to never join NATO; limit the size of its army; and cap the range of its missiles. Unsurprisingly, Ukraine pushed back along with its European allies. In meetings with Mr Trump's interlocutors, they managed to soften several of these provisions. Then, Mr Trump's team, consisting of his principal dealmaker, Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, travelled to Moscow to meet the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. While Mr Putin met them for five hours, he did not agree to that updated peace plan. Many details of the disagreement are unclear but Russia says that the biggest remaining point of contention involves territory. In other words, Russia is not willing to accept the territorial concessions it is being offered in the latest version of the plan and wants a bigger bite of Ukraine before it agrees to stop fighting.

Unsurprisingly, Ukraine and Russia have each accused the other of scuttling peace efforts. Ukraine and its European friends insist that the latest stumble offers fresh evidence that Mr Putin is simply not serious about pursuing peace. Mr Putin, on the other hand, has accused Europe of pulling the rug from under ceasefire initiatives by imposing conditions that it knows Moscow cannot accept. Mr Trump, on his part, has imposed sanctions on Russia's two largest oil companies as part of his pressure campaign on Mr Putin. While those sanctions, on top of the hundreds of previous sanctions in place against Russian entities, will no doubt hurt the Kremlin, Mr Putin has shown over the past nearly four years that economic pressure alone will not make him stop the war. The urgency for peace in Ukraine has never been greater: from food to energy, the war and the resulting sanctions on Russia have disrupted global supply chains. The war continues to claim civilian lives every day. But with neither Russia nor Ukraine willing to compromise, peace appears as remote as it has ever been. Is Mr Trump learning the limits of his deal-making?