WASHINGTON—President Trump finds himself a “yes” away from brokering a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine. But it is Russian President Vladimir Putin who has to say it, and he is leaning in the other direction.
That has put Trump, the self-professed master dealmaker, in a bind of his own making. After promising Putin wants peace and pressuring Kyiv to back the 30-day fighting pause, Trump will face a decision on imposing new sanctions on Moscow, as he had pledged to do if the Kremlin balked at the U.S.-brokered plan.
