>>/54398/
He can't do anything else.
They "finally figured out" they knew this very well at the start that the Kremlin doesn't negotiate for peace wholeheartedly in fact they don't give a crap. And Kiev too, the whole thing is just for the show, they had to talk about peace so Zelensky talked about it.
Russia feels they are winning, they aren't entirely wrong, Ukraine is wrecked: destroyed economy, decimated population not by the fighting directly, but by taken territory and emigration; two things left: the radicals who still have fighting spirit and the western supply. Lots of Russians feel fired up and support their SMO, so Kremlin can't stop now anyway. Russian economy is doing fine, no real sign of collapse.
In Ukraine many people feel they can fight on. Sure the majority aren't that enthusiastic, but enough hard liners who would coup the govt. if it wanted to make peace in earnest.
Washington knows this very well, and now they arrived to the point where they have to say it. War continues, weapons must flow to keep continue it, because Russia just won't stop. Not for the conditions Washington and Europe put forward. They want no conditions.
I still think however that this is Korean war situation, case #1 here: >>/54274/. They decided in Washington that the war has to stop at some line, so they continue until the other side recognize that line. Problem I see is that in Korea, the US fought personally, Ukraine is not the US, they might just collapse before reaching that point.