Which explains why he's in no hurry for a peace deal.
I think he assumed that Trump was totally in his corner, ready to screw Putin in any deal, ready to offer whatever he wanted and all he had to do was sign a mineral deal. I think he thought there'd be guarantees of European peacekeepers, measures to make sure Russia can't just roll back in and so forth.
Trump plays hardball - none of that was on the table. And a good negotiator - ESPECIALLY when he has the upper hand - doesn't tip his hand and ALWAYS begins negotiation with the worst case scenario.
Trump isn't on a side, he just wants the war to end, he wants something in return for the money they've thrown away - and I think an unspoken part is, Putin is going to HAVE to relinquish something or they've essentially WON, attacked a foreign nation, captured the parts they wanted to keep and gotten away with it. In that respect, it's Austria and the Sudetenland all over again.
I think they should be satisfied with the Donbas region they had, Crimea and a guarantee that Ukraine won't join NATO.
Because it's impossible at this point to go back to the way it was.
On the other hand - if Ukraine is rebuilt and made prosperous - that could eventually work against Russia in the long run.