General Discussion

Hopefully this will once and for all put the kibosh on the idea that Ukraine has to gift Putin with territory he's failed to "win" through war. The only enthusiastic proponents of that scheme were Trump and his cronies and a few half-assed nominal Ukraine supporters or blatant fellow travellers of Russia. Putin would no doubt have been glad of the gift, but there's no reason to imagine it would have led to a sustained end to hostilities, quite the reverse.

But as for writing off the United States, I think that's throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Despite the spiteful rhetoric and actions from Trump, and especially Vance, along with others among Trump's cabal, we know that American public opinion has consistently favoured supporting Ukraine by substantial margins. The next Congress is likely to be far less slavishly loyal to Trump, and ways could be found to offer concrete support and fewer favours to Putin, and maybe start undoing some of the harm Trump's tried to do in the last couple of years.

Meanwhile, it will be no bad thing if the rest of NATO and Ukraine's allies work to be far less dependent on the US's agenda and firepower.