Lise Doucette

I thought he looked especially exhausted and his language is one of exasperation.

You know, he is repeating his calls for America to apply more sanctions on Russia's nuclear energy industry.

He is also more broadly calling for more pressure to be put on Moscow.

and for America to be clearer what security guarantees it's willing to provide.

We've seen America before claim it is serious about providing these assurances, and now we're starting to get whispers that it will only be specific once it's clear what is in the mix.

for a peace deal, what will be provided in return.

And I think what Ukraine is struggling to get rid of are these proposals for it to simply hand over more territory to the Russians in the eastern Donbass region.

To boot, we've seen continued strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

We've also seen the Russians claim to intercept 150 Ukrainian drones or so over Moscow.

So when we talk about these things, it doesn't feel like solid ground for a compromise to be achieved in Geneva today.

But nevertheless, it is these discussions in these formats that will ultimately end wars like Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Russia is clearly satisfied in its continued invasion.

Vladimir Putin is fine with the costs, the human costs, the financial costs, and therefore Ukraine will see the need to keep defending and fighting back.

There is still a core belief politically in Ukraine that it would rather keep fighting, albeit how awful that is, than sign a peace agreement that would be tantamount to a gradual surrender.

It's very difficult.

I mean, Ukraine has actually recaptured, reportedly, around 200 square kilometres of territory in the southeast.

And it's thought to be because of Russia being denied access to the Starlink web access system created by the billionaire Elon Musk.

But more broadly, it is still a story of grinding Russian advances.

And that is the picture we have to remember when we think about these ongoing discussions.

Russia is still getting what it wants, despite the costs.