Ukraine -- light at the end of the tunnel?

A week short of three months into the war, there are some hopeful and intriguing developments.  Russian military bloggers with hundreds of thousands of followers have begun openly criticizing the military's incompetence, while this startlingly candid assessment of the war and the international situation was allowed to air on Russian TV (both links found here).  Either the regime is now losing control of the narrative domestically, or the public is being prepared for the shock of a more realistic picture of the crisis.

Even more startling, Putin seems to be backing down on his threats against Finland and Sweden for their efforts to join NATO.  Russia has allowed hundreds of Ukrainian fighters from the Azovstal steel plant to be evacuated, a break from its previous pattern of "agreeing" to such evacuations and then opening fire on those trying to flee.

Then there are the persistent stories that Putin is seriously ill with cancer.  Green Eagle suggests that this might be a ploy to legitimize removing him from power so that the disastrous war can be ended.

All this suggests it is just possible that Putin, or other forces in Russia who aspire to replace him, are trying to de-escalate the situation with an eye to eventually ending the war.  Anyone with access to unbiased information can now see that it is unwinnable.  The Ukrainians have pushed the Russians back from Kharkiv to the border.  The Russian offensive in Donbas is making little or no progress, displaying the same incompetence and logistical problems as earlier Russian efforts.  The regime has the power to drag out the war for months longer, but doing so would mean only more defeat or stalemate, more humiliation, more international isolation, more ongoing losses of troops and equipment (disastrously eroding Russia's military power) with no realistic hope of conquering Ukraine and a real risk of being driven out from the eastern and southeastern territory Russia has managed to occupy -- and more risk of a nuclear escalation which would wipe out Russia along with the West.  Finding a way out is clearly the only sane course.

After the war ends -- whether soon or months from now -- the West will need to continue providing aid on a large scale.  Two thousand high-rise buildings have been destroyed in Kharkiv alone, Mariupol is largely in ruins, and there is tremendous destruction all over the country.  The Ukrainians will have won a major victory for the whole democratic world, at enormous cost, and will have earned whatever help they need to rebuild.  Tens and perhaps hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens have been abducted and forced to settle in Russia, for reasons still unclear; the sanctions should not be relaxed until they are allowed to return.  If isolationist or Putinist Republicans become dominant in the US government again, other democracies will have to step up and support Ukraine's recovery.  The important thing is that this devastated but heroic country not be abandoned after the fighting stops.