Politics World PoliticsWhy the Ukraine war is so hard to endThe two sides are talking now, but in all likelihood, the fighting will continue.by Joshua KeatingSep 3, 2025, 7:45 PM UTCShareGiftA man looks out of window from apartment in a damaged building after a Russian missile attack on August 28, 2025 in Sloviansk, Ukraine. Roman ChopGlobal Images Ukraine via Joshua Keating is a senior correspondent at Vox covering foreign policy and world news with a focus on the future of international conflict.
He is the author of the 2018 book, Invisible Countries: Journeys to the Edge of Nationhood, an exploration of border conflicts, unrecognized countries, and changes to the world map.At the height of the Iraq war, bloggers coined the term Friedman unit in reference to the New York Times columnist Thomas Friedmans habit of claiming that the next six months would be critical in determining the outcome of the conflict.Everything has sped up quite a bit in our post-Twitter era, so perhaps its appropriate that the Ukraine war equivalent the Trump unit is only two weeks. President Donald Trump said last month he would give Russian President Vladimir Putin a couple of weeks to take serious steps toward ending the war before he imposed new penalties on Russia.
Ill know in two weeks what Im going to do, he told CNN. Trump has previously given Putin two more weeks in April, May, and July.
(This is not the only issue that Trump has promised to resolve in a fortnight.)Trump had promised to end the war within 24 hours of taking office, and eight months later, there appear to be two constants: Trumps frustration that Putin might be tapping me along as he continues to launch attacks on Ukrainian cities, and his seemingly unshakeable faith that Putin is serious about making peace in which case, a resolution to the war may be just around the corner.I think Putin wants to make a deal for me, you understand, as crazy as it sounds, he told French President Emanuel Macron in a hot mic moment at the White House on August 18. Two weeks later, he declared himself very disappointed in Putin.None of this is to say that talks with Russia are pointless; even the most fleeting chance of a negotiated outcome should be explored.
*Reporting by Vox.*
