The problem with any dealings with Putin is that negotiating will only ever end in Ukrainian territory being lost, and more land for Russia. Putin won't leave without his pound o' flesh, and Zelenski will never agree to further forced annexation of Ukraine's territory. That'd be like Canada telling the US we own Alaska again. Y'all would go absolutely fucking apeshit, and rightly so.
Secondly, Trump doesn't give a single fuck about peace, at all. He's always been friendly to Russia, well well before he ever thought of the Presidency. He's a businessman and has been seeking inroads to Russia since at least the mid-80s (none of which he pulled off). Russian Oligarchs largely bailed him out of his bankruptcy in the 90s, and Russian money has basically made the Trump family profitable for decades. All of this isn't to say he's some kind of Russian plant, but Trump is problematically influenced by two things: folks who've done him solids in the past, and whoever he last spoke to on a topic. He's unable to separate his personal feelings about Russia and Russian Business from his Political feelings about them... and like it or not, Russia right now at least is a destabilizing force.
Short-term, peace by any means necessary sounds like a good thing, but I worry that without a strong show of force the long-term ramifications of letting Russia carve off more of Ukraine will be a signal to other folks looking to take a little extra land that they'll likely manage it with a bit of sacrifice. Isreal right now, as an example, picked a hell of a time to attempt to snap up the rest of Palestine.
ALL OF THAT SAID, this is just my musings on the whole thing, and I'm just some random Canadian programmer, what the hell do I know about the delicate push and pull of international politics and conflict? Peace by any means necessary might be just what we need and I might be biased against Trump because he's a despicable moron and I can't see past that despite even a stopped clock being right twice a day.
Canada never claimed Alaska, but Russia did, and there were rumblings a while back that Putin might want it back.
I remember Clinton's interventions in Kosovo, another bloody war fought in the aftermath of a Soviet satellite state where ethnic conflicts blew up. There is nothing inherently sacred about Ukrainian borders when ethnic Russians wanted to secede peacefully. The history of this conflict stated a lot more than 2 years ago, and while Russian aggression was inexcusable, it was not quite the black-and-white tale we were told. Further, the Biden family involvement in Ukraine is absolutely scandalous, and the corruption of their government and the US cannot be overlooked.
Trump has a lot of blister and belligerence, and I haven't forgotten or forgiven his missteps last time, but he was the only major candidate talking about ending the bloodshed. Campaign rhetoric and promises are usually worthless, but he has surrounded himself with several prominent peace advocates, so I have some hope he's serious.
I will say, for all his many faults... the one thing I can say about Trump is that unlike most politicians... that man does things. Not always good or smart things, but when he says he's going to do something he's a lot less empty talk than the vast majority of career politicians who constantly make promises they don't even attempt to follow through on.