would have already offered a peace settlement of the below in exchange for Russia respecting the rest of its territorial integrity.
- Ceding Crimea
- Ceding the Donets Basin (an area where 75% speak Russian as their primary language - I know you know, this is for other readers of this comment).
- Promising neutrality by promising to never join/attempt to join NATO/the EU.
- Respecting the right of Russian speakers to continue speaking Russian in areas where Russians make up a linguistic majority.
- A return to Ukraine of all children taken by Russian soldiers
This is not a war that Ukraine can win. But demographically, it is terrible for Russia.
You don't mention it in your reply to Paul, but Russia too has lot a considerable amount of people. Something like 900,000 people have left Russia. Yes, many will return. But not all. And 110,000 - 140,000 have been killed since 2022. Meanwhile this is not the population that needs to be gone from Russia - these, as you know, are the children of the 1990s and are now in their reproductive years when they need to be having Russian children.