you're so close to getting it

Because, as multiple US officials have stated throughout the last several years, this is a proxy conflict between Russia and the US with Ukraine as the battle ground and Ukrainians as the fighting force on the US side.

Indeed, it's very strange that sovereign Ukraine is not the one negotiating this. They could just ignore Trump's peace deal and keep on fighting without US support.

Surely they can manufacture their own weapons and fight their own war, and don't need to bow down to US directives imposed from afar. Being the one holding the cards, they definitely don't need to hear anything from Trump in order to negotiate with Russia.