Put yourself in Putin’s position. The winter offensive isn’t going particularly well. What do you do now? Should you consider engaging in meaningful negotiations?
At this point, barring a decision from the Chinese to give you more help, your best option is probably to give up fighting on the offensive, hang on to what you have won, and hope that either Trump or DeSantis will hand you the rest of Ukraine on a silver platter in a couple of years. Let’s face it–it could happen.