Does anyone seriously think Vladimir Putin has any intention of ending his murderous invasion of Ukraine? US President Donald Trump dispatched envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner to Moscow on another fool’s errand.

And after a sumptuous lunch at a Michelin-starred restaurant and a gentle stroll around Red Square they met the despot in his Kremlin lair… before leaving empty handed.

Oh how the walls of the citadel must have echoed with laughter. And so the madness continues. Insanely costly – in lives, and money.

Despite its united front against Russian imperialism Europe has been reduced to impotency, leaving it only able to fire a volley of hurty words eastwards.

That has left Trump to either shower Putin with praise and charm or the tired threat of tougher economic sanctions in a futile attempt to bring him in from the cold.

But every plot has failed. And this is the way it will be forever more, unless Ukraine rolls over and surrenders.

As hard as it might be to accept, and whatever the rights or wrongs, it appears Russia is winning the war in Ukraine.

It currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory including Crimea – the country’s southern peninsula which was annexed by Moscow in 2014 – and parts of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia regions.

Kyiv has steadfastly refused to concede any territory as part of a peace deal, including Crimea which it regards as occupied territory, while Moscow wants cast-iron assurances its neighbour will be banned from joining the Nato military alliance which, despite initial warm overtures from the pact, appears to have gone stone cold on the idea of fast-tracked membership.

It is in Putin’s interests for the conveyor belt of slaughter to continue. He thinks – and he is probably right – he can batter the country into submission.

Putin sees himself as a modern day Peter the Great, the Russian Emperor who expanded the Motherland’s territory in the 18th century, saying “it is our responsibility to return (Russian) land”.

For him Ukraine is not an independent, sovereign nation, it is a belligerent and badly behaved child struggling through adolescence.

Presenting Russia as an empire – justifying his campaign of imperial conquest – is Putin’s only reason for remaining.

Two in five of Russia’s war dead are those who had not signed up with the military before the invasion on February 20, 2022, and were either volunteers, civilians or prisoners sent on vast human wave forward assault missions on Ukrainian positions.

The attritional war has shrunk Ukraine’s GDP by 20% – significantly more than Russia’s whose per capita income is twice that of its neighbour.

Six million Ukrainians have fled, either to escape the war or avoid military conscription, and four million are internally displaced.

The United Nations estimates Ukraine’s population has declined by 25% since the invasion.

More than one million – soldiers and civilians – have been killed or injured, while the financial cost is so vast it is almost unfathomable. Experts estimate the overall global economic damage is in the region of £2 trillion.

And the bottom line is that while it might be an inconvenient truth, the world still heavily relies on Russia for oil and gas.

Despite sending lackeys to peace summits, and disingenuous talk of negotiations, Putin has had ample chances to prove he wants peace. He doesn’t.

If any ceasefire is to happen – and it remains vanishingly unlikely – it will be on his terms, not Volodymyr Zelensky’s.

There will likely be a Christmas truce – another propaganda coup for Putin – before he cracks open the champagne to toast another milestone.

The tyrant took charge of Russia when former President Boris Yeltsin stepped down on New Year’s Eve in 1999 with his parting instruction to his successor, then Prime Minister, being: “Take care of Russia!”

After Putin’s invasion the world stood with Ukraine but the Kremlin kleptocrat always thought he had the upper hand.

War is his currency and, at the age of 73, what happens in Ukraine will define his legacy. That’s why there will be no peace in his lifetime.