> We are now in a war where both sides – Ukraine and the West on one side and Russia on the other – see each other as an existential threat that must be defeate

> We are now in a war where both sides – Ukraine and the West on one side and Russia on the other – see each other as an existential threat that must be defeated. I think this is exaggerating a little bit. Ukraine (of course) "only" wants to get all its occupied territories back, which sounds reasonable. Plus reparations for the damage caused, and to join NATO to prevent this from happening again. Which would however be unacceptable for Putin, who has set off to conquer the whole of Ukraine and would end up with thousands of soldiers killed and less territory than he started out with. So, even if the goal is not "total defeat", still not going to happen...