You are making a very big assumption here. There is a better than even chance that Ukraine will rout the Russian army because of its incompetence and untrained soldiers. The corruption has rotted their military from top to bottom. Everyone knows that if a cease-fire were to be entered into, Putin would use the lull to re-arm and attack again, not just Ukraine, but other neighbors he considers to be under the umbrella of Russian hegemony. The only solution is to defeat the Russian army. This is the reason that NATO was established after the Second World War. Russia has always had imperialistic ambitions and is an existential threat to its neighbors.

Putin has stated loudly and often that we need a multipolar world to counterbalance western hegemony. This should be an indicator in and of itself. The Western powers are not hegemons. Russia clearly is. Putin intends to exert his influence over as much of Europe and Asia as he possibly can. He keeps referring to a new European Asian hegemon to counter US power and realign geopolitics.

He has attacked Chechnya twice, Georgia, Transnistria, and Ukraine twice. Russia is always meddling in its neighbors affairs and trying to install puppet governments. Where they fail, they use force. Currently, the president of Belarus is despised by his people and remains in power only because of the significant Russian military presence to “keep the peace”, which was established after Russia concocted an excuse to bomb their capital. He may not have invaded them, but he has taken over their affairs. There is no indication he will ever stop doing this.

Until the attitude of Russia’s leadership changes, there is very little to negotiate. This is not Northern Ireland. The two situations are hardly comparable.