While what you are saying might seem reasonable if you take a step back from the conflict and view it from a distance - Russia/Putin has repeatedly shown that they will use any negotiation at best as a strategic pause and have shown no interest in any "negotiation" which isn't basically Ukraine capitulating - Putin has shown he won't accept any kind of negotiated outcome which allows for Ukraine to retain a robust armed forces even assuming they'd stop at the territories in the east - largely the notion the SMO is just about the breakaway regions is lies sold to the gullible. In that eventuality Russia just wants Ukraine ripe for the future picking when it is even less able to defend itself.
The potential for peace talks is pretty much non-existent whoever holds what while Ukraine exists as a functional state - there was a chance if Ukraine was able to put Russian forces under so much pressure they'd leave of their own accord there might be some kind of least worse outcome but that window has rapidly closed especially because of how much the West had delayed. The only other slither of possibility for any kind of peaceful outcome is if the current Russian regime somehow collapses but that depends on freak incident/accident and/or the Russian people revolting and neither look likely.
There is no outcome here really which doesn't involve massive misery and loss of life - whether in the short term or later - maybe it could be argued later gives more chances for a fundamental change to come about by some other means but we've seen throughout history that it almost always just leads to the same outcome or worse, often at a larger cost.
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