Putin’s lying diplomats make excuses for terror in Ukraine. Expel them all | Simon Tisdall

Diplomacy isn't working and Putin doesn't want peace. Western countries should close their embassies and send Russia's envoys packing

Like early morning river mist, hopes of peace in Ukraine rise momentarily, then dissipate with the first sigh of a contrary breeze. UN chief Antonio Guterres mounts a mission to Moscow and Kyiv - then Vladimir Putin's missiles blow it all to hell. Russia coyly offers talks at next month's G20 summit. Then Joe Biden scoffs: they're not serious, he's heard it all before.

Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, watches his cities burn anew and vows never to negotiate while Putin rules. Turkey, playing a double game, confuses mediation with collaboration at a secretive Kazakh tryst. Meanwhile, a world aghast at scary escalations and threats of nuclear war cries out in alarm: When will it end? And how?"