According to Mr.Dave Lawler, the world editor at Axios:
The only clear path to peace in Ukraine is a deal between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky, but the red lines drawn by the Russian and Ukrainian leaders do not intersect.
The scope of the fighting is narrowing, and both sides have signaled some flexibility on Ukraine's post-war status, yet experts say this war is likely to keep raging, and may become even bloodier.
"The ugliest pages of this war are likely in front of us," predicts Alexander Gabuev of Carnegie Moscow.
Putin could sell fairly minor concessions from the Ukrainians as a major victory given his control of the domestic media, Gabuev says, but he doesn't think that's likely. "Having started such a terrible and reckless war, I think he will not settle for lesser prizes."
Instead, Gabuev expects Putin to continue to "ground cities district by district" and bet that his leverage will grow over time because he has more troops and arms at his disposal.
Russian officials now claim their objective is to "liberate" all of the eastern Donbas region, rather than take major cities like Kyiv.
But they're still demanding that Zelensky recognize the Russian-backed Donbas "republics" as independent and accept Russian sovereignty in Crimea — concessions Zelensky has said he cannot make.
https://youtu.be/az-U7H0pFS0
