The deadline now has a date. November - that is the month by which Washington wants the war in Ukraine finished, and Donald Trump's two special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, took that proposal first to Moscow and then to Kyiv. According to sources, Vladimir Putin agreed in principle to the timeframe.

In principle. That is the phrase worth stopping on, because in diplomatic vocabulary it means everything and nothing. Witkoff and Kushner spent more than three hours in the Kremlin, and after the meeting both the American and the Russian side praised the atmosphere - a classic indicator that almost nothing was agreed on substance. Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, said Ukraine is ready for negotiations while simultaneously preparing a military offensive. Whoever reads that is not reading a man who believes the war ends by November.

A plan that was already rejected once

According to the sources, the proposal closely resembles the peace plan from the end of last year - including the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Donbas. That is a demand Kyiv has already turned down once. The change is not in the content but in who is doing the pushing now and how much time he has left.

November was not picked at random. In November America holds congressional elections, and analysts say openly that Trump wants at least a temporary peace before them. Not a lasting one - a temporary one. The difference between those two words is paid for by somebody else.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov judged that the American approach "deserves support". When Moscow praises an American plan, it is worth reading twice what exactly is being praised.

Where is Europe in all this

Zelensky announced a meeting with Trump on 20 September and talks about a trilateral format - Ukraine, the US, Russia. There is one conspicuous gap in that list. European backing is considered essential for any agreement to survive, but Europe is currently not at the table where the text gets written - only at the one where it will later be handed over for signature.

The Balkans know this scene by heart. The big players make the deal, the small ones find out, and the peace plan is then named after the city where it was signed. The question is not whether there will be an agreement - the question is whose calendar dictates it.