A crowded meeting of Western leaders, helmed by President Donald Trump of the United States of America and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, at the White House offered the clearest glimpse of how Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II might end. Mr Trump has signalled for the first time that the US is willing to join security guarantees for Ukraine after a peace deal with Russia. His top negotiator, Steve Witkoff, has suggested that these guarantees might be of the kind offered under the NATO umbrella — in other words, a future attack on Ukraine would be treated by the guarantor nations as an attack on them, pulling them into the war. Mr Trump has also indicated that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, whom he met on Friday in Alaska, has told him that Moscow would be okay with such guarantees.
Mr Putin appears to have sought territorial concessions in return, including all of the Donetsk region of Ukraine, large parts of which it already controls. Mr Trump has insisted that such land swaps — Russia might be willing to give up tiny pockets that it occupies in other Ukrainian provinces — will be part of any peace settlement.

A wide gulf remains between the formal positions of Russia and Ukraine. Kyiv wants Western security guarantees but has said that it cannot agree to giving up any territory to Moscow without a referendum. Russia has also made it clear that it will not accept forces from NATO countries in Ukraine. Still, a narrow window of convergence exists — if Ukraine agrees to Russia’s admittedly controversial territorial demands and to security guarantees that fall short of needing the permanent presence of soldiers from NATO nations. Examples of such mechanisms exist in the form of the Collective Security Treaty Organization that consists of Russia and five other post Soviet states.
Mr Trump’s attempts to stitch together a trilateral meeting including Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky are a positive step. It may not dent the distrust that defines the relationship between the leaders of Russia and Ukraine but it will force them to drop rhetorical allegations against each other and actually demonstrate that they can coexist — just as their nations must — as neighbours. No peace settlement will be just for Ukraine. That unfortunate reality has to be confronted for the war to end. But what precedent will such a peace plan set?