Putin does not want a lasting peace mechanism. His bare minimum for a “pause” is a conquest of the Donbas. When he feels strong enough, he will seek to seize Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, which are now, according to Moscow, part of Russia. That is not the extent of Russian territorial ambitions. They want to reach the Dnipro. They want to cut off Ukrainian access to the Black Sea. They want to formally annex Transnistria. Putin’s ambition is for a Ukrainian rump state.