Ukraine

Where he's likely to be going with this is "war ends, but Russia gets to keep the territory they've illegally annexed". And that will not do. They stole Crimea; if they get to steal more, then they'll just be back again in a few years once they've licked their wounds. All territory must be returned to Ukraine, and then they can pay reparations and fuck off, and we'll welcome Ukraine into the EU and NATO so this shit never happens again.

I mean if this is his way of coping with his complete fuckup and preparing his people for the withdrawal, this might be a good thing

This. He signals that he wants a way out.

Of course, he'll try to get or keep as much as possible, but saving face seems more important than victory. There's hope.

Maybe we can all agree to say on Russia TV that glorius Russia won.