https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/03/07/russia-ukraine-war-news-putin-live-updates
Despite the headline, the real news here is that Putin has apparently dropped his two most far-reaching demands: demilitarization of Ukraine and "de-Nazification" (the latter a code word for replacing the Ukrainian government with a Russian puppet regime). The demands about Crimea, the Donbass and NATO/EU membership are less extreme, though there is still possibly good reason to reject them unless, at the very least, Russia makes reciprocal concessions of some kind.
This is an indication that Putin recognizes the war is going badly for Russia, which is also the view of most Western military analysts. Putting on my defense/international relations hat (which, I admit, I took off 20 years ago, and haven't kept up much since):
The outcome is far from certain. Russia might still be able to win. But, so far, a combination of poor planning, logistical problems, abysmal morale, and bad combined arms coordination have hampered the Russian military and prevented them from achieving the quick victory Putin wanted. Ukraine's military performance has been far from flawless. But overall, they'd done much better, aided by the inherent advantages of the defensive, which Clausewitz first identified.
To take just one indicator: Western experts believe the Russians have suffered some 5000 military dead, in just 11 days of fighting, so far (the Ukrainians claim its 10,000 or more). That's a staggering figure, bigger than the total US KIA from 8 years of war in Iraq (about 4500). The Russians may not be able to absorb this rate of loss for too long, without seriously degrading their forces, whose morale is already weak. Ukraine's military has also taken serious losses (no one has a good estimate of how many), but again 1) they are more motivated, and 2) it's easier to fight on the defensive.
