THE VISIT of four European leaders to Kyiv on May 10th was billed as a turning point. Britain’s prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, described Ukraine’s offer of an unconditional 30-day ceasefire—and the challenge to Russia to reciprocate—as bringing peace closer than at any point in the last three years. The aim was to highlight that Russia is the party that still wants war, and to encourage President Donald Trump to exert greater pressure on the Kremlin. By the time Vladimir Putin spoke in a televised address in the early hours of May 11th—bluntly ignoring the ultimatum while offering direct negotiations laden with multiple strings—the moment had lost all clarity. Mr Trump’s social-media response, hailing a “potentially great day”, undercut the Europeans’ insistence that he had been on board from the start.