In the long and painful rhythm of modern conflict, Ukraine and Russia return once more to the threshold of diplomacy — not from a place of quiet, but from skies still lit by reciprocal fire. Since U.S.-brokered talks collapsed in February, both nations have answered the silence of failed negotiation with intensified airstrikes, each strike reshaping the terrain on which any future agreement must be built. The resumption of talks arrives not as a sign of progress, but as a question: whether either side still believes words can accomplish what weapons have not.