August 21, 2025

President Donald Trump may recently have called for Ukraine and Russia to skip a ceasefire and hammer out a comprehensive peace agreement. But the conditions for that kind of deal don’t exist yet — and they may not for decades.

That’s the view of Richard Haass, the veteran diplomat whose career has included negotiating over conflicts in Cyprus, the Middle East and South Asia. Haass, president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, also chaired multiparty talks that laid the foundation for the 2014 Stormont House Agreement, which promoted further stability in Northern Ireland. He has served under four presidents, including both Republicans named George Bush.

For all the discussion of bilateral and trilateral meetings or what security guarantees could work, Haass believes it’s critical to revive the idea of a ceasefire in Ukraine.

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