If Russia really wanted to end the war, there is an easy way to do it: withdraw from Ukrainian territory and stop committing war crimes on the way out. Of course, that's not going to happen. Instead, we have the usual cynical Russian manipulation of Western stupidity and weakness.

No doubt in the short term Putin would greatly appreciate (a) being able to hold on to territories his military is in danger of losing to the Ukrainian advance, and (b) leveraging delusional Western notions of "a negotiated peace." The reality, of course, is quite different: Putin is still determined to take as much of Ukraine as possible, now and in the future, so as to install another puppet regime like the one he has in Belarus. As Westerners seem incapable of responding adequately to the risk he presents, Putin may yet get what he wants despite his military being a sick joke. Our weaknesses may end up being even greater than Russia's many evident weaknesses, especially the Trump-led US Republican Party which has already said it will slash aid to Ukraine when it wins back the Congress in a few weeks.