A survey by Median for MFD found that 70.0% of respondents don't expect Vladimir Putin to accept a peace accord without capitulation by Ukraine and that 36.7% think the war will last 6-12 months or longer. Ret. U.S. Gen. John Novalis, who is head of global helicopter sales at Bell, told HN earlier this month that the war will last for as long as the West is willing to supply ammunition, weapons and equipment. The reason for supplying the weapons and other military assistance, according to White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, is to strengthen the position of Ukraine in talks for a ceasefire. But the U.S. is not seeing any evidence that Putin is doing anything to stop the onslaught or to de-escalate, she said. Dir. Rudolf Jindrák of the Castle's foreign dept. said in Právo on Sat. that he thinks Putin is just putting on a show in terms of negotiations with Ukraine and that he will only hold serious talks with the U.S. Taken together, these comments suggest that the U.S. and Russia will keep escalating - and people will keep dying - until Biden and Putin, or at least Blinken and Lavrov, sit down and decide what to do about Ukraine. [ Czech Republic president Pres. Joe Antony Sergei foreign minister secretary of state opinion poll escalate to de-escalate deescalate ]