I don’t think he’s being naive, he knows Trump is going to hang him out to dry, and he can’t win without ongoing US support. So if he’s come to the conclusion that defeat is inevitable, or at least that victory is impossible, then it makes sense to start posturing to that effect, to try to get the best outcome possible later at the negotiating table.

conflict with a dictator

Only one of these leaders is unelected, and it’s not the one you think.

Putin will happily send every last Russian in to the meat grinder before he accept defeat

I doubt that, but its moot since Russia would inevitably win this war of attrition without having to do it. Also, the whole Russian meat grinder/meat wave thing is just recycled WWII Nazi war propaganda BS.

now that he has his American buddy back in place

CIA "Cooked The Intelligence" To Hide That Russia Favored Clinton, Not Trump In 2016

now with added musk funds

Right, Enron Musk is personally keeping the Russian economy afloat with his own money 😂 This one really takes the cake.

Putin will happily send every last Russian in to the meat grinder before he accept defeat

Funny, because it's exactly the same with Zelensky and unfortunate Ukrainians who haven't managed to escape his regime.

Wtf is with you people claiming you know what's best for these countries? Its like you're larping as the us state dept.

He's responding to his talks with Trump. He knows US support is going to fade fast under the new guy. He's trying to save his country.

How to say you're historically illiterate without saying you're historically illiterate. 👆

Oh wow, you got the tankies to come out in force

Zelenskyy literally cannot advocate for negotiated peace. The Right wing nationalist elements of Ukraine's coalition will effectively murder him if that becomes his position. It remains to be seen what will happen to him when he's forced into it by the reality of the war and the waning of international support by his patron states.

They absolutely can. Easily. They made a peace deal shortly after war started, but Zelensky accepted weapons bribe promises to keep going instead. As they are nearing the last Ukrainian, and the bribes will dry up, something close to original deal will happen instead. Zelensky is dead either way, but peace lets him flee somewhere, and claim to have done the right thing.

The best time to take ceasefire was before.

The second best time is now

The US is clearly starting to distance itself from project Ukraine now. That said, I don't expect that the US will alter its stance to simply admit that Russia has won. The most probable scenario is that Russia and the US will secretly negotiate a behind-the-scenes agreement, and the US will just cut aid to Ukraine while continuing to publicly engage in verbal posturing. The US admin will say that it has more pressing concerns with China and the Middle East, and it's now time for Europe to step up and assume a larger role. However, everyone knows that Europe is not any position to do so. Therefore, the conflict will likely end on Russian terms without the US openly admitting defeat. As an added bonus, the US will secure lucrative military contracts with European nations for decades to come.

EU/US have to step up financial reconstruction offers

The offers are likely to be predatory IMF/World Bank loans leading to even more neoliberal/neocolonial privatization & austerity.

The US hasn’t given Ukraine a blessed thing: they’ve all been lend-leases that will take the Ukrainian people generations to pay off.

War is a necessity as long as Imperialism remains the dominant contradiction in the world, we need to move beyond Capitalism to move beyond war.

Thousand years from now, the same statement will be made of us. We humans change little.