Could a backdoor deal end the Ukraine war?

As the second world war entered its final months, Anglo-American forces advanced into Nazi Germany to finish off Hitler’s Reich. In the East, the Red Army attacked up the Danube toward Vienna. Meanwhile, at the Yalta conference in February 1945, Stalin moved to cement his post-war political control over Eastern and central Europe. Germany’s defeat was imminent, but western leaders began to worry about how much Stalin’s forces would seize before the final surrender. 

As Russia continues to endure heavy casualties in Ukraine, we’re in a similar predicament today. The war shows no signs of ending any time soon – and casualties continue to mount on both sides. But might the end of the second world war show a way out?

In 1945, Nazi SS General Karl Wolff and American office of strategic services director in Switzerland Allen Dulles held secret talks throughout March and April to effect a local surrender of German forces in Italy and western Austria.