Down to the wire

Prolonged Russia-Ukraine conflict will pressure India

Hopes that the Russia-Ukraine conflict would draw to a close anytime soon have been frustrated by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s latest statement that he is ready for negotiations but Kyiv and its Western backers have refused to engage in talks. The statement is disingenuous, given the maximalist position he has adopted vis-à-vis Ukraine with his February 24 invasion of the former Soviet republic. The fact that backroom talks between Kyiv and Moscow have come to nothing suggests that the two countries have no meeting point at the negotiating table. Taken together with Europe’s brisk arrangements to source oil and gas