They very much do not want it to end quick. The US industrial complex has huge interest in this conflict being long and drawn out, because it'll keep defense funding up for them.
Meanwhile Russia and Ukraine are going to continue to escalate things...
I have always been on Ukraine's side, but realistically, we have spent more and more money, we are also bleeding Russia, but we are risking a lot with all these escalations happening, and sending the tanks was one of them.
These countries have to sit at the bargaining table at some point and it's not going to happen until we start holding back on Ukraine a bit.
Russia just is not going to accept a flat out loss, and Ukraine is not going to secure an all out victory. They are going to need to sit down and talk and compromise at some point before nukes start flying.
This is absolutely the wrong way to view and go about this situation, and neglects the long term view both forwards and backwards through time.
The fact is if Ukraine cedes anything, Russia will try again in a few years, till they get all of what they want and Ukraine ceases to exist. Then the Russians will do it in Moldova and anywhere they think they can get away with it.
Russian imperial ambitions are not going to go away, not matter how the west feels, and any concession towards them at this stage will just teach Russia that they can get away with doing this sort of thing again.
There is no middle ground here, because Russia/Putin will not stop this madness if they get to keep any part of Ukraine, they will just see it as justification of their own propaganda and learn they can and will get away with this sort of thing, because everyone is too afraid of the Russians nuclear saber rattling.
The west can help stop this madness by helping Ukraine regain control over it's full territory, and break the Russian imperial ambitions and conventional war fighting ability for generations, or it can force Ukraine to the table to lose territory, and give Russia time to rearm for the next invasion and then more blood will have to be spilled to contain Russian aggression till yet more people want to give the Bear a bone to sate it for a few more years.
This war can be made shorter by giving Ukraine the weapons it needs to devastate and cripple Russian logistics feeding the Russian front line and command hubs to the point a sustained push can remove Russian forces via rout or surrender.
Russia has to be made to accept defeat in Ukraine, or they will just move on to their next target.
We have to get used to the idea of not trying to 'fix' or 'partner' with Russia on anything, only containing the madness to their own internationally recognized borders.
I mean shit, even Kazakhstan does not recognize Russia's claims to Crimea or the Donbas, why are you so quick to throw in the towel? And make no mistake, the US public has gotten way to used to the idea of 'short' military conflicts or long term COIN operations, and forgot what true, grinding conventional/trench warfare is like.
And unlike Imperial Germany, there is no reason to believe Russia will adhere to any treaty or security guarantee they give Ukraine, unless it includes the 1991/pre-2014 Crimea annexation borders, and when this conflict has ended with a Russian withdrawal, I fully expect Ukraine will enter NATO, and both Finland and Sweden will have likely entered as well.
Putin has been NATO's greatest salesman, and public sentiment in Europe is more pro-NATO than it has been in decades.
This war isn't going to go away quickly, no matter how some parts of the the US public feels, because the UK and Poland know the score and won't pull the plug, and South Korea will love the additional arms sales, as well as Japan. Ukraine's support worldwide is only growing while Russia's is shrinking, and no one on the international stage is going to tell Ukraine to cede land unless they have a population already sympathetic to Russia (i.e. Orban/Hungary) or are already Russian allies (the Norks).
The GOP pushing for concessions to Russia is a wonderful way to hand the Dems a legitimate win in 2024, and the Dems fucking love sections of the GOP eating itself alive to oppose them more than support Ukraine, instead of trying to race them to push for more and better aid for Ukraine (which would have been the smart move by the GOP/GOP base).