Are they serious? Hard to say, but every public statement has a purpose. It’s serious work trying to understand what Russia’s actions mean.

Both sides have some dark skies ahead. For the Russians, they are bleeding unsustainably and not achieving much. And Trump’s usefulness is about to be curtailed. Xi is probably not convinced of much more progress to keep investing in.

Ukraine is suffering from Russian terror every day and sees some thunderclouds ahead with rising populists in France and Germany that aren’t shy about reducing Ukrainian support in the coming years.

Maybe they’re serious about ending this phase. Long term - that’s another kettle of fish, but…maybe it’s time. Wars are often indecisive and their conclusions unsatisfying. It’s the years after that matter.