Opinion: Does Putin want a diplomatic solution in Ukraine? It's not looking that way. [View all]

[Uncle Joe]

(snip)

U.S. officials believe that some of Putin’s advisers see danger ahead if Putin invades but they aren’t able to get this message to the boss. The sanctions that would follow an assault on Ukraine would make it hard for Russia to sell its energy abroad or to buy the technology it needs to supply its defense industry, let alone the rest of the economy. Russia’s financial reserves are large, but they would quickly be depleted as it sought to bolster its currency and pay its bills. U.S. officials reckon that under sanctions, Russia would be starved of inputs, and China, its only major ally, couldn’t fill the gaps.

President Biden has looked for a pathway for Putin to back away from this crisis. In a phone call Saturday with the Russian leader, Biden is said to have countered Putin’s claims that the West doesn’t address his security concerns by summarizing the ways America is prepared to discuss shared stability for Europe. To Putin’s insistence that the United States ignores Russia’s “red lines,” Biden counseled continued dialogue. The leaders talked about follow-on meetings, but no real channel for discussion has opened yet.

An impasse remains on Putin’s fundamental demand for a NATO guarantee that Ukraine won’t ever become a member. A statement by Ukraine’s ambassador to London that Kyiv was ready to give up its aspirations for NATO membership was quickly disavowed Monday by President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government in Kyiv. But even on this question, formulas may be found to finesse the difference — stating the widely understood reality that Ukraine won’t join NATO any time soon without formally guaranteeing it.

Putin’s course may already be set for Kyiv. It’s hard to imagine that he has moved a vast army to the Ukraine border twice in the past year, only to retreat. Only Putin knows what he will do next in this self-created crisis. But even he can’t answer the classic question: Tell me how this ends?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/14/diplomatic-solution-putin-biden-ukraine/

How about Ukraine joins NATO when Russia does?

Of course both nations would need to meet NATO's minimum requirements but they could come in as a pair.

It saves face for everyone involved.