India, Feb. 24 -- The fragile hope for a negotiated end to the Russia-Ukraine war eroded further this week as efforts to revive peace talks floundered and fractures within the Western alliance deepened, leaving Kyiv increasingly isolated at a moment when Moscow's campaign continues with sustained military pressure.

In Brussels, efforts to adopt a new sanctions package targeting Russia were derailed when Hungary blocked both the measures and a 90 billion loan package that had been earmarked to support Ukraine's battered economy and defense. The veto, tied to a dispute over disrupted oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline, underscored the widening divide within the European Union over how to address the conflict's fourth anniversary, and ...