The most telling twist to yesterday’s visit by a trio of top European leaders to Kyiv is the one least reported, but according to German newspaper Die Welt, the EU’s “new tripartite axis” encouraged Ukraine’s president to negotiate with the Russian strongman. In the course of a brief but highly publicized and heavily stage-managed visit, the French president, the German chancellor, and the Italian prime minister are said “from behind closed doors” to have suggested that President Zelensky use the negotiating table to hash out a way to end the war with President Putin.