Option #1: NATO defends Ukraine, with a 50/50 risk of nukes.
Option #2: Putin kills millions and eventually occupies Ukraine. Then he moves to the next country, and we are back to option #1.
Option #3: Putin is overthrown from inside.
Any other options?
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Both sides “win” aka “get a way out” of a deadly and criminal standoff: Putin gets to keep occupied territories and a promise of no NATO in the Ukraine; Ukraine will have fended off a big bully and is celebrated a hero
Cost: thousands of lives not millions; bad blood etc
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Peace treaty which can be presented by both sides as a victory as soon as possible is the best case scenario.
Putin being overthrown in a popular revolution could go very wrong. Palace coup outcome doesn't seem likely with how he hand picked all those people and they fear him.
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Before the invasion, Ukraine's government didn't seem to believe Putin was going to go through with it. I don't think they were simply trying to avoid panic. They would have mobilized earlier. Could have been better prepared. US definitely thought it was happening weeks earlier.
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Putin's regime massively underestimated Ukraine and the response from the rest of the world. A major problem for them is that a peace treaty with Ukraine wouldn't inherently end all the sanctions. Negotiating with Ukraine isn't enough to get them out of the mess they created.