Europe

Did I make that point or are you just talking out of your tankie ass?

That argument never convinces me. Look at Trump: he started a war and now ended up with a deal that is worse than before. Yet that doesn't stop him of spinning that as a great success. He "stopped Iran that was just about to get nuclear weapons", or whatever he'll say to make it look good.

Same goes with Putin. He survived starting this war and ruining his country, he'll survive stopping it, by making something up that can be told as a success. For example: "we made sure the Russian people in these areas are safe. Now we invite them to get to safety in Mother Russia and live a peaceful life. We protect our people". Or whatever he seems fit. He can spin it however he likes, they'll follow.

What about reparation?

We can start with all of their frozen assets abroad and see how much is left on the bill. Then we can transfer all of Ukraine's debts that they've incurred throughout the war and hold the kremlin liable for paying for them. I suppose we can include on that tab whatever costs related to reconstruction are left over after using those frozen assets.

How countries are going to collect that debt from russia is anybody's guess, but no sanctions should be lifted until they're paid in full (only after reconstruction in Ukraine is finished, of course).

As for returning abducted people, yes, absolutely that should unconditionally be a part of the agreement. But getting russia to agree to that will be tricky. So you're right, they don't get to just back out and piss off back behind their borders without settling a few accounts.

But,

Letting them off the hook this easy sends the message that anyone can invade random countries and in the worst case just doesn't conquer any land.

That's... already happened. See Israel in Palestine; the US in Iran, Venezuela. The precedent has already been set. We've already shown chauvinist dictators what they can get away with.

The only way to undo that is to hold all three of them accountable. Which is honestly not likely without triggering a nuclear holocaust; at least until major internal changes of administration when it'll all be swept under the rug anyway. The best we can hope for is for the individuals responsible to be held accountable. Heads of state as well as all their cronies.

This is where things will get difficult: Of course you're right and Ukraine would be entitled to reparations etc.

But the question is, who would actually enforce that, if anyone? The U.S.? Certainly not, since there’s a Putin puppet in the White House. China? Surely has absolutely no interest in punishing wars of aggression, given that they’ve more or less obviously set their sights on Taiwan? Europe? Would probably be happy to provide money for reconstruction, but won’t deploy its own soldiers to annex Russian territory as a substitute for reparations...

That leaves only Ukraine itself, and its soldiers are war-weary after years of conflict, even though they’re currently winning, as they should. I don’t believe Ukraine could justify an offensive against Russian territory, either domestically or in terms of foreign policy… especially since such an offensive would naturally entail greater losses than the successful defense of its homeland.

So in theory, you’re right, but in practice, I don’t know who would be able to enforce that, even if Russia withdraws from Ukraine. Being right and getting justice have been two different things for centuries, and for good reason.

Something like they did in 1917 I guess? The oppression wasn't any lighter back then.

But I guess most russians have grown soft in the same way Putin has claimed happened to europeans. Always reflection with these guys.

Heavily controlled state that kills or imprisons political opponents, and disappears or imprisons protesters even for holding a blank white paper on the streets. Russia has the same issue USA does. It's a gigantic country with spread out cities, with most money going to Moscow and St. Petersburg. It's extremely difficult to organize effective protests. Especially now that their internet is more walled off than the Great Firewall of China. It's one thing to have centralized, effective protests in smaller countries where driving to the capital is a couple of hours.

When USSR ended, Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus were in very similar situation, politically and economically. Belarus got Lukashenko from the very beginning, he immediately bought off police and squashed all dissent. Ukraine had a wannabe dictator Yanukovich, bur kicked him out.

Russia got a big window of opportunity between Yeltsin and Putin, they could totally do their own Maidan, plus storming Kremlin is a historical Russian tradition.

No one cared.

They got a taste of Europe and civilized world, the young people got tech jobs with lots of money. Instead of fixing their own government, they mostly emigrated, and now formed a diaspora instead of learning the language and blabbering about mysterious Russian soul and wanking on WW2 photos.

One of Putin's fears is that Ukraine showed a clear scenario how to depose a dictator.

When the war started, there where those in Russia that did protest the war. You could see them getting picked up and dragged away.

That's the problem!

Yeah... I'm guessing a lot of these 81% want the war to be over ... with Ukraine's unconditional surrender.

It's not like the state media will honestly report on all the war crimes being committed.
I'd chalk it down to the majority of that 19% simply not being aware of what is going on Ukraine