Russia talks present key challenge for new Ukraine leader

WARSAW — When new Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky sits down Monday for peace talks in Paris with Russian President Vladimir Putin in their first face-to-face meeting, the stakes couldn’t be higher.

More than five years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between government troops and Moscow-backed separatists has killed 14,000 people, and a cease-fire has remained elusive. While Zelensky has made ending the conflict a priority, the political novice arrives at the table with the veteran Kremlin leader in what appears to be a less-advantageous position:

• Zelensky still hasn’t had the White House meeting with President Trump that he sought to bolster his stature on the world stage.

• French President Emmanuel Macron, the host of the meeting, has made clear recently that he wants to re-engage with Russia and get back to doing business again after five years of sanctions imposed on Russia over its actions in Ukraine.

• Macron and the other mediator in the talks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, will be meeting Zelensky for the first time since it emerged that he criticized them in the July 25 phone call that has become the focus of an impeachment investigation against Trump.

There are concerns among those who support Ukraine’s sovereignty that Zelensky might give too many concessions to Putin. That could lead to a backlash from Ukrainians who strongly oppose any rapprochement with Russia.

“There is a whole cocktail of economics and geopolitics that make the situation for Ukraine very difficult and is posing lot of challenges,“ said Bruno Lete, a security expert at the German Marshal Fund of the U.S., a leading think tank.

“But it’s critical that Europeans and the U.S. support Ukraine,” Lete argued. “Without peace and stability in Ukraine, there will never be peace and stability in...