@Kalogerosstilitis2RevengeoftheJunta @NoDoxGregBrady @Sophia_Ru I want to believe, the question is if Putin wants millions of hostile voters and whether he can even justify it since I doubt anything outside Novorossiya would join in a referendum. Annexing as much of Ukraine as possible is undoubtedly the right move - for the good of Ukrainians, but Putin is sadly a Liberal.

For me a settlement of "Russia takes 4 regions and the rest of Ukraine can go to hell" seems most likely.