You are saying Finland made a mistake in the past. Which I find incredible wrongheaded. That tiny Finland could have beaten the Red Army during WW2 is pure fantasy.

Ceding land in exchange for peace was absolutely the right choice for Finland. The alternative would have been full Soviet occupation.

And history tells us another important lesson: Russia despite their bully nature honored that agreement with Finland all the way until modern times despite the fact that Finland has no large military alliance behind them to save them in case Russia attacks.

Ukraine has a real shot at beating back Russia today, but Ukraine is a massively larger country than Finland and is getting extensive Western military aid. I am an optimist today. You are right that beating Russia today will be an important lesson for them. Yet, I would not have judged Ukrainians if they had made peace and ceded territory. Nobody could demand that Ukraine should suffer what they have at the hands of Russia.

My point is that some countries can have a shot at beating Russia if they are willing to take a heavy beating themselves. But others will not and may have to see their whole country ruined to achieve that.

Don't get me wrong I favor giving Ukraine all the military aid they can have and help to rebuild later. But I also think an early peace would have been possible by ceding some territory to Russia. I think Russia has already learned a lesson. They have a huge part of their military already.

I cannot imagine them thinking whatever land they end up with was easily won and encourage them to do it again.