I believe and I may be wrong, Crimea is being used as a strategy to get Putin in a serious way to the negotiation table. Losing Crimea would be a serious loss and a total embarrassment. Walking away and keeping Crimea and the West recognizing Crimea as part of Russia may be a win and an off-ramp out of his stupid decision to illegally invade a peaceful sovereign country. On the opposite end, Putin is fighting hard for a town called Bakmut because he wants a win so badly. Perhaps he sees Bakmut as his offramp.
Without the west/NATO supplying defensive weapons, Eukraine would be done so for your folks to keep harping on not supplying any aid, which is ridiculous.