Quote Originally Posted by drillerpie View Post
Putin's objectives were: ruling out NATO membership, demilitarisation (ie Ukraine rendering themselves defenceless in the future), and denazification (ie the murder/abduction Zelinsky and the installment of a pro-Russian puppet government).

If Ukraine can agree to rule out NATO membership, but keep their government and the ability to run their own defences (hard to imagine they won't want to re-arm significantly after this) then it might be seen as a worthwhile deal.
This would be the most likely basis for an agreement, allowing both sides to claim they achieved something. If it turns out this way, the only question will be why such an agreement wasn't reached before a bullet was fired? If this conflict is to achieve anything, it could be that Putin accepts he won't be able to re-build the USSR/Russian empire, and NATO accepts that it has progressed as far eastwards as it can without spooking the Russians/Chinese etc.