A ticking clock and a shutting trap seem appropriate metaphors for the predicament of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his team hoping against hope for “peace” with Russia.
The Normandy Four leaders’ (Russia, Germany, France, Ukraine) summit in Paris, on December 9, 2019, started the clock ticking toward the April 2020 summit in Berlin. There, Mr. Zelenskyy is expected to report to the same conclave about Ukraine’s fulfillment of commitments he has confirmed in the French capital.
The shutting trap consists of Kyiv’s unilateral concessions to Moscow (to legalize the Steinmeier formula, to accept a permanent “special status” for the Donetsk-Luhansk territory under Russian control). Moscow extracted this price for agreeing to hold the December summit, which Mr. Zelenskyy’s team was avidly seeking even if it had to pay this heavy cost.