Wanted: An exit ramp from Ukraine for Russia

The term diplomats use – “exit ramp” – sounds almost shockingly detached amid Vladimir Putin’s escalating violence against the civilian population of Ukraine.

It’s shorthand for finding a negotiated formula to stop Russian attacks, and more specifically to provide Mr. Putin with sufficient political cover to call a halt to them. And while Washington and its European allies doubt that’s possible at the moment, they haven’t given up.

But they’re facing a “Putin paradox” that makes peace more pressing, but perhaps less possible.

For there are growing signs Mr. Putin is ramping