The more Ukraine resists the more territory they lose. Ukraine at the moment is not interested in negotiating. And for Zelensky it’s politically impossible for him to accept territorial losses. If he does the Neo Nazi battalions and SBU radicals will kill him along with his family. Even when they lose the Donbass and have heavy losses I doubt they’ll change their tune. In short Russia will take the ancestral Novorussiya lands turning West Ukraine into a land locked failed state. This is what Putin meant when he said “decommunization.”
Zelensky is not exactly a consummate politician and canny geostrategist. He doesn’t seem to have consistent grand strategic view. He fell into the position of national leadership not because his thoughtful position on issues but because he starred in a popular TV comedy that made fun of the corrupt nature of ukrainian politics. His policy advocacy seems to me to betray some indications of bipolar disorder that alternated between period of maniacal energy and periods of passivity and fatalism.
His manically energy is not menifested in the form of getting lots of complex things done because he simply lack the skill and experience to get complex things done. his period of maniacal energy is menifested in marathon bellicose, fist pumping, speech giving in front of friendly foreign parliaments, grandiose proclamations of relentless pursuit of complete uncompromising Ukrainian victory borne out of high moral principles, and reflexive condemnation of anyone suggesting the end of the current conflict can or ought to be otherwise.
When he is off of his maniacal high his behavior transitions to making doom and gloom statements about how no one in the world would be safe if russia won,
When he is in his full on low depressive mode he would be all passive and be willing to negotiate based on territorial concessions and neutrality with respect to EU or NATO.
of course the US had taken pains to magnify his maniacal phase while that facilitated squeezing more Russia hurting juice out of Ukraine. Now that the US seem to think almost every last drop has been wrung out, it wants to be able to soon wash its hands of Ukraine, so it is now hinting his depressive mode is now a more suitable mode.
