Putin's and Lavrov the Liar's terms for negotiations are: Ukraine must accept annexations, then we talk:

https://medium.com/lessons-from-history/negotiation-is-war-fought-by-other-means-e23a810753a0

Bakhmut is in the process of being encircled. There's a reason why Prigozhin took his mercenaries out of Bakhmut.

Kadyrov said that his tik-tok warriors are taking their place, but don't believe it.

You confuse truce and peace. There's no peace possible without permanently de-imperializing Russia. This means Russia becomes incapable of and uninterested in empire and that Russian speakers in its near abroad are not and will never be Russian. No more Sudetenland-type ethno-nationalist Russkiy Mir driven foreign policy.

Putin's last hope is Trump's re-election. That's why his list of sanctioned Americans includes Letitia James and other Trump political enemies who have no interest in going to Russia. He's signaling to Trump: you're still my asset. That's whose side you're on, intentionally or not.