Media, analysts, people sometimes mention Putin's maximalist demands, and they generally mean:
- Crimea, Kherson, Zaporozhia, Donetsk, Lugansk
- Ukraine demilitarized
- No NATO
Occasionally no EU.
I do not think it's maximalist. I think Putin holds back with these demands. Their maximalist aim could be:
- to the Dniepr plus Mykolaev and Odessa
- Belarus type of Ukraine on the remainder.
And since from all the communications from both sides, the war will go on for some time and they might just try to reach this - if they can break Ukrainian will and resistance.
They don't demand such things, they won't demand it. Because larger demands would make Ukrainians resists more.
As Clausewitz says: higher aims need higher effort. If Ukrainians believe they only have to defend a couple of oblasts and NATO membership they put less effort into the war than if they are told they have to struggle for more than half of the country and for their total independence. This is why the Ukrainian communication is always about their sovereignty and freedom and integrity as a whole, this is why they claim existential threat, this is why the Zelensky govt. aims high, because they want the Ukrainian people to resist. They want to move more people, demand more effort from them.