“The loser doesn’t get to demand anything.”
Indeed. Putin needs to accept he has no path to victory. The longer he waits the worse position he will be in.
BWWWWWWWWWWWWWwwwwhahahahahah har har har ho ho ho har har har no no hawwwrr ho ho ho ho wwhahahahahah har har har ho ho ho har har har no no hawwwrr ho ho ho ho wwhahahahahah har har har ho ho ho har har har no no hawwwrr ho ho ho ho wwhahahahahah har har har ho ho ho har har har no no hawwwrr ho ho ho ho wwhahahahahah har har har ho ho ho har har har no no hawwwrr ho ho ho ho wwhahahahahah har har har ho ho ho har har har no no hawwwrr ho ho ho ho ......
Putin won in the first weeks of the war. Your media syncophants lost,,,,,Russia owns the Black Sea now....
The conclusion you offer supposes the war is merely about Ukraine. Given the damage Europe and the "world's policeman" -- so says Biden and neocons like Gingrich -- are doing to their own economies, and given that withdrawal of energy supplies which have been delivered to Europe from Russia are now deeply affecting parts of Europe economically and socially, and given that the green politics of the European Union and their unelected Commission is failing economically, it may well be that this is not a matter of Putin losing. It may well be that Europe and the US are also losing. Sometimes a win isn't simply a matter for the military. And the old saws hold -- war and business are diplomacy by other means.
Being required to choose Putin or Zelensky is not my favored debate. There were and remain more than two choices, and the future is not fixed between just two oligarchs, for that is what both are.
Who says he has “no path to victory?” The media? Why would you believe the media about anything at all?
“Tis but a scratch”