In a week marked by high-stakes diplomacy and renewed urgency to end the war in Ukraine, world leaders are scrambling to break the deadlock that has persisted since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. On September 3, 2025, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul made an impassioned appeal in New Delhi, urging India to leverage its close ties with Russia and push for a return to the negotiating table. The plea came just days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin at a regional summit in China, underscoring India’s unique position as both a strategic partner to Moscow and a nation courted by the West for its diplomatic influence.
“The only demand is that weapons fall silent,” Wadephul emphasized during his two-day visit, according to the Associated Press. He stressed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has demonstrated a genuine intention to make peace, while lamenting that, despite enormous efforts by Europe and the United States, Russia has not yet been willing to enter substantive negotiations. “We Europeans are doing our best, working with our American and Ukrainian friends to ensure that this war ends soon and that Ukraine finds peace as a sovereign state,” Wadephul added, reflecting Europe’s hope that India could play a pivotal mediating role.
India, for its part, has walked a diplomatic tightrope since the war’s outset. While New Delhi has resisted Western pressure to outright condemn Moscow, it has repeatedly called for a cessation of hostilities. The country has also taken advantage of discounted Russian crude oil, which now comprises a significant share of its imports, a move Indian officials defend as necessary to shield their economy from global turmoil. But this balancing act has come at a cost: last month, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods, bringing the total to a hefty 50%. The tariffs, which affect an estimated $48.2 billion in Indian exports, have strained relations between the world’s two largest democracies and spurred India to accelerate free trade negotiations with the European Union, aiming for a deal by year’s end.
Meanwhile, President Trump’s own efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict have faced mounting frustration. On September 3, he announced plans to hold new talks about the war in the coming days, following an inconclusive August 15 summit with Putin in Alaska. “I thought that that would be much easier,” Trump admitted to reporters, as quoted by Reuters. “I thought that would be in the middle of the pack, maybe one of the easiest. Sometimes you never know with war.”
Trump, who had predicted a swift end to the fighting when he returned to the White House in January, has found the reality far more complex. After a contentious White House meeting with Zelenskyy in February ended in a public spat, the U.S. suspended military aid and intelligence sharing to Ukraine in March. Kyiv responded by agreeing to a 30-day ceasefire, but Russia refused, insisting that the “root causes” of the conflict must be addressed before any full truce.
Subsequent diplomatic efforts have produced little tangible progress. In early May, Russia announced a unilateral three-day ceasefire, and European leaders urged Putin to extend the truce. Talks in Istanbul involved only low-level delegations and resulted in prisoner exchanges and a vague pledge to continue dialogue. Two more rounds of talks in June and July failed to secure a lasting peace or even a temporary ceasefire.
By late July, Trump appeared to lose patience, telling UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer that Putin had “10 or 12” days to end the war. The much-anticipated August summit in Alaska between Trump and Putin was described as “productive” by the U.S. president, but ultimately yielded no agreements. As the summer wore on, European leaders rallied behind Zelenskyy, backing his demand for security guarantees and opposing any forced territorial concessions to Russia.
The diplomatic flurry has been matched by continued violence on the ground. Russia has maintained its campaign of drone and missile attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities, and its defense ministry recently claimed control over half of the eastern city of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region. The Kremlin, meanwhile, has lashed out at Western critics, notably rebuking Germany’s Friedrich Merz for calling Putin “perhaps the most severe war criminal of our time.”
Against this backdrop, the world’s attention turned to Beijing on September 3, where Xi Jinping hosted Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. The spectacle—featuring tens of thousands of troops, tanks, and a formidable array of missiles—was described by military analyst Michael Clarke to Sky News as a display of both “old and new” military might.
Speaking to Russian and Chinese journalists after the parade, Putin struck a cautiously optimistic note about the Ukraine conflict. “If common sense is there, it is possible to agree an acceptable option or acceptable way of ending this conflict,” he said. “I think there is a light at the end of the tunnel,” Putin added, though he also warned that Russia could be “forced to resolve all our objectives through military means” if negotiations falter.
Trump, for his part, commented on the Beijing parade, calling it “very impressive” and denying any disappointment at not being invited to join the gathering of autocratic leaders. He reiterated his intention to speak with Putin “very shortly,” expressing hope for a “good solution” to the war. Yet he also issued a veiled warning: “He’ll make a decision one way or the other. Whatever his decision is, we’ll either be happy about it or unhappy. And if we’re unhappy about it, you’ll see things happen.” While Trump did not elaborate, he has previously floated the possibility of imposing further sanctions on Russia.
Diplomatic efforts are set to intensify further. On September 4, Trump is expected to hold a phone conversation with Zelenskyy, and several European leaders, including France’s Emmanuel Macron, are scheduled to join the call after a virtual summit hosted by France. The group, representing about 30 countries, will discuss security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a peace agreement with Russia and are expected to denounce Moscow’s continued unwillingness to negotiate.
Despite the flurry of diplomatic activity, the fundamental obstacles to peace remain daunting. The initial rounds of talks in 2022 collapsed over disagreements about Ukraine’s NATO ambitions and military posture—issues that have yet to be resolved. Russia continues to demand that the “root causes” of the conflict be addressed, while Ukraine and its Western backers insist on the restoration of Ukrainian sovereignty and security guarantees. The war, now stretching into its fourth year, has left both sides battered but unbowed, and the world anxiously watching for any sign of genuine progress toward peace.
With diplomatic channels buzzing from Beijing to Washington and New Delhi, the next few days could prove pivotal. Whether these efforts will finally bring the “light at the end of the tunnel” that Putin referenced—or simply mark another round in a long, grinding conflict—remains to be seen.
