Unlike the rest of the sneering commentators here, I understand and appreciate your willingness to go out on a limb and suggest a reasonable solution. And I would agree if there were any evidence that our adversary in this case (Putin) has the slightest interest in reasonable solutions. Unfortunately, he does not, nor does he have the slightest interest in anything other than the conquest and brutalization of Ukraine and any other part of Eurasia he deems as part of "the Russian World" under his sole dominion. Nor is he even capable of negotiating in good faith. So although your idea might otherwise have merit with a more rational, less fanatical leader of Russia (if such is even possible these days), it is a nonstarter with Putin. So we have no choice, unfortunately, to support Ukraine's resistance to naked aggression, at least until Putin's body is rotting in its grave, and until someone with both moral courage and compassion is ready to endure the profound humiliation of a Russian troop withdrawal as a prerequisite to negotiations. But with even more fanatical psychopaths waiting in the wings for Putin to fail, we may be out of luck on that score is well. As Hamlet sadly says, "Rightly to be great is not to stir without great argument, but greatly to find quarrel in a straw when honor is at stake." So it is, in Ukraine, for the entire rule-based global community that has largely kept the peace since World War II.