So, here we are. The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, says we are in the "last mile" of peace talks. That is a nice phrase, isn't it? The "last mile." It sounds clean. It sounds like you are tracking a package on your phone and the delivery truck is just around the corner. It makes you feel like the hard part is over and soon we can all go back to ignoring Eastern Europe like we did for the last thirty years. But let me tell you something about the last mile. In the shipping business, the last mile is the most expensive, complicated, and annoying part of the whole trip. In war? It is exactly the same, except instead of lost packages, you have lost lives.

Zelenskyy is a smart guy. He is an actor by trade, and he knows how to read a room. He looks at the United States, and he sees a country that is bored. He looks at Europe, and he sees a bunch of politicians terrified of their own heating bills. He knows the audience is checking their watches. The applause is dying down. The standing ovations are getting shorter. So, he has to promise an ending. He has to tell the donors that the movie is almost over, so please, just buy one more round of popcorn. That is what "last mile" means. It is a sales pitch to keep the credit card machine running.

But let’s be real for a second. What does this "last mile" actually look like? Do you think it looks like a handshake? Do you think it looks like a signing ceremony with fancy pens and smiles? No. The last mile of a war is usually the ugliest part. It is the part where both sides are desperate. One side wants to grab as much land as they can before the whistle blows. The other side is trying to hold onto every inch of dirt so they don't look like losers. It is a frantic, bloody scramble. It is not a peaceful stroll to the finish line. It is a knife fight in a ditch.

And let’s talk about the people sitting at the table. On one side, you have the Russians. These guys treat human beings like firewood. They throw bodies at a problem until the problem gets tired of killing them. Do you think they care about a "last mile"? They have a lot of miles. They have a lot of time. They are not answering to voters who are angry about the price of eggs. They are answering to one guy who wants to rebuild an empire that died before the internet was invented.

On the other side, you have the West. We are the ones paying the bills. And let’s be honest, our leaders are useless. They want a win they can put on a bumper sticker. They don't care about the details. They don't care if the peace deal actually works. They just want the noise to stop so they can focus on their own elections. They want to say, "Look, we fixed it!" even if they just put a piece of tape over a gaping wound. They are pushing for this "last mile" not because it is right, but because they are tired of writing checks.

Then you have the people on the ground. The ones who don't get to fly in private jets to summits. For them, the last mile is just another day of hell. It is another day of wondering if their house will be there in the morning. While the suits talk about "territorial concessions" and "security guarantees," regular people are just trying to survive. It is easy to talk about miles when you are sitting in a comfortable chair. It is a lot harder when you are the one walking it.

This whole idea of a clean ending is a lie. Wars like this don't just end. They don't wrap up like a sitcom. They fester. They drag on. Even if the shooting stops, the hate is still there. The ruins are still there. The "last mile" might lead to a pause, but it rarely leads to actual peace. Look at Korea. Look at the Middle East. The world is full of wars that are technically over but never really stopped.

So, don't get your hopes up. Don't let the nice words fool you. "Last mile" is corporate speak for "we are running out of options." It means the desperation is peaking. It means the politicians are looking for an exit ramp, and they don't care who gets run over on the way out. Zelenskyy is doing his job. He is selling hope. But hope is a very expensive thing in a war zone, and usually, the poor are the ones paying the price. The last mile is always the longest, and trust me, we are going to be walking it for a long, long time.