Ukraine: What will end the war?

"War is the continuation of politics by other means."
~Carl von Clausewitz
When the German Wehrmacht invaded the Soviet Union, Stalin forbade the evacuation of civilians from cities on the grounds that the Red Army would fight harder to defend their fellow citizens. It was an experiment without a control, but if you accept the logic, then Putin is making a mistake by preventing the evacuation of Ukrainian cities.
I'm not sure that this link adds much in the way of insight or prophecy, but I'll post it anyway. Here's the ambivalent nut graf:

"Ultimately, it appears that this war will not end quickly, as it will take a considerable amount of time for either side to make the other give up. Either the Russian military’s transition to indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets succeeds in eroding Ukrainian resistance, or battlefield casualties and domestic economic woes succeed in defeating Russia’s will to fight. Neither outcome is likely in the coming weeks and months, meaning people around the world are left to watch the horrors of war unfold, and wait." 

https://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/ukraine-what-will-end-the-war-heres-what-research-says/?fbclid=IwAR0keYXHFSkSaOiWmKW4DXetUtzxFJUZLV-gjM_-dkcYVQsST5-vJb4sApA

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