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Guest Essay

By Andrea Kendall-Taylor

Ms. Kendall-Taylor is a former senior intelligence officer focused on Russia.

It seems the third time wasn’t the charm. President Trump spoke to President Vladimir Putin of Russia on the phone on Monday, but the call — the third between the leaders since the beginning of Mr. Trump’s second term — appeared to yield little, as have the recent months of complex, fruitless negotiations designed to end the three-year war in Ukraine.

The Trump administration is frustrated, both with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who has proved determined to insist on a durable peace that does not leave his country vulnerable to a rested and rearmed Russia, and Mr. Putin, who has proved evasive even on the question of whether he wants the war to end. Having promised voters a quick deal, Mr. Trump has “

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