There will be no "winning." I agree with you, no guarantee of peace. Where you and I differ is you believe Putin is motivated by caring for his people and can see that he can't win (if he couldn't). He doesn't care how many people die. There's a certain amount of propaganda going on, sure, but a ton of direct evidence from Russians themselves that they believe this too--first, the million who have left, second, those whose calls are intercepted. And even the pro-war hawks in Russia aren't happy.

To this day, Putin hasn't formulated a reason for the war beyond vague nonsense about Nazis, NATO aggression and the interest of Russians in Donbas. Putin's position is simple. Make Ukraine subservient to Russia and he will stop attacking. There is no negotiation from his point of view. You don't think everyone hasn't tried? The last thing France and Russia want is this war. And the U.S. too, really gains nothing from it.

If you're going to argue for a negotiation you should be up front that you believe Ukraine should be subservient to Russia. Putin has been clear on it. But you imply there's a way to negotiate around that point. And you suggest Ukrainians should do whatever anyone else says they should do. Hope you're well, Scott!