“Russia might be forced to negotiate by the end of the year.”
Forced to negotiate? LOL who are you kidding, by the end of the year Russia will have Odessa and occupy Ukraine up to the Dnieper river. And they won’t be giving ANY of it back.
My bet is that after Europe starts crumbling this winter due to a lack of Russian energy, Russia is going to make moves in the Third World to cut their access completely. If Euros are going to pick a military option they’d see in Africa exactly the same thing they planned for the Russians in Ukraine, except it is going to work this time. It sucks to be European. Their time is running out.