Putin strikes me as someone that would nuke his own troops if he thought they had underperformed.
It’s really important to understand that none of the bloggers who get quoted know anything. They all resort to telepathy and type out words imagining they know who was or is thinking what.
None of them know anything.
1) This is the first war in history where both sides had access to excellent satellite recon imagery. No one can do anything without being seen.
2) If you’re seen, long range weapons can hit you. This erases the concept of occupying this or that being meaningful.
3) Ukraine has 1500 locomotives. Only 300 are diesel. This is why electric substations are hit in the west.
4) 35% of US exports are arms. 22% of Russian exports are arms. Ukraine is an enormous arms expo and frankly, because Russian weapons are used by both sides, and much talked about by both sides, the marketing campaign favors Russia. It is surprising stuff getting advertised, like Turkish drones. We hear about US weapons shipped. The rest of the customers around hear about weapons used.
5) In 40 yrs no one will know or care about who started the war. Only the winner will be known. That’s all the history books will have room to mention.