“not land capture.”
And yet there was annexation.
Putin said recently the “main objective” was land stealing.
“Kursk represents a land grab.”
Yet no annexation
You entirely miss the point. The bigger picture is the strategic aim of Russia was about destroying the AFU first, and that they would only advance as necessary against the AFU to maintain contact and pressure to continue attriting the AFU.
You are fixated on land. Land became important due to ethenic cleansing by Ukraine, in order to protect Russian’s, their lives, culture and language. This was the main point of the Minsk I accords, e.g., to protect Russian speakers and not be treated as second class people, and to be allowed to speak their own language. Zelinski being the NAZI enabler (he spoke Russian most of his life), refused to treat Russian speakers equally.
Ukraine is at war in one part for NATO membership, the other ethenic cleansing.
There was a great thread on FR two days ago about the timeline of US aggression or deception pertaining to 1991 thru 2022.