Is a political settlement between Russia and Ukraine on the cards? I am sceptical

Meanwhile, the US and Britain are mulling over Ukraine’s pleas for permission to use their Atacms and Storm Shadow missiles to strike deep into Russia. (Ukraine already uses both against Russian targets within its own territory.) Putin warned that British and US consent would amount to a decision to wage war against Russia and hinted at perilous consequences. He was outdone, in specificity and drama, by a prominent Russian military expert who advocated lobbing a tactical nuclear warhead into a European Nato country, adding that the US wouldn’t dare retaliate.