> I am sure Europe would be all over Zelensky’s case to take the deal. They don’t want their energy supply to be jeopardized. <
It’s a bad deal in that it gives Putin everything he really wanted in the first place. And so his aggression will be rewarded. But I think you’re right with your comment above.
In a way, it’s like the 1938 Munich agreement that gave Hitler the Sudetenland. “Peace in our time.” (I’m roughly comparing agreements here. But I’m not comparing Putin to Hitler. Not yet, anyway).
Seems like a poison pill offer. Russia doesn’t care what the Ukrainian constitution says. They know they can always change their constitution and join NATO. He wants a supersize Belarus that can be controlled.
Putin will be dead of cancer in 2 years if not sooner.
He will also not get Odessa. And he won’t get the land bridge to the Crimea that he wanted.
No new territory for Putin after all this and his military has been exposed.
Zelensky will take the deal because he and Ukraine will live much longer than Putin will.
The only thing left to be negotiated is security guarantees. I think Russia’s proposal is that Ukraine only gets to keep 20,000 - 30,000 troops after the war which is not acceptable.
Also, Putin would install a puppet Prime Minister in Ukraine and Zelensky would have a title of Honorary President or something like that.
The meeting in Turkey between Russia and Ukraine foreign ministers on Thursday will be telling.
When all is said and done, Putin is the loser, not Ukraine.