Last week, President Biden signaled that he was willing and ready to engage with Vladimir Putin on peace talks.  But a day later, a Kremlin spokesperson dismissed those talks as unlikely, pointing to the unwillingness by the U.S. and other allies to recognize Russia’s illegal annexation of new territories in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russia continues to target Ukrainian civilian infrastructure with airstrikes, which has left millions of Ukrainians without power, heat, or running water as the cold winter months set in.

We speak with Nina Khrushcheva, a professor of international affairs at the New School in New York and the great-granddaughter of former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, about where things stand in the war, and what shape peace talks could take.