Yea, to “Europeans” there is no war unless they see it on BBC or the fake news outlet du jour. To Russians and half of Ukraine this war has been going to for almost a decade. I guess what’s going to happen is pretty predictable. If they are aggressive and powerful in the future then you have a nice setup for another war (not that I accept your premise but if I do then it still doesn’t make much sense). All roads lead to war with this thinking.
Well, within the small area within artillery range of the former line of demarcation, which is considerable less than the eastern half of Ukraine.
After their defeat in the Russo-Japanese War the Russians re-built their armed forces and became considerably more aggressive. But that was with enormous loans from France to help Russia as a counterweight to Germany. I don't think anyone will be stepping up to do that with Russia today, although China might help a little. With sanctions Putin would have to re-Stalinize Russia's economy to rebuild on that scale, and I doubt he can do it. But since NATO has made it plain they will not get involved outside of a NATO member being attacked by Russia, it behooves smaller countries like Sweden and Finland to join now.