Agreed, pitin was a bored old rich dictator with grievances unresolved. As he wrote and spoke about often, the fall of the Soviet Union and its breakup ate at his cold black heart.
Not without some justification he thought that this was the time to strike before Ukraine joined the EU or possibly NATO.
His dreams of a greater Russia were threatened, so he acted.
Now after 3 1/2+ years(closing in on the time it took for the Soviet Union to take Berlin), anything but “victory” means a date with a window.
Russians historically can tolerate a lot, but failure is not one of them
Putin likes to call Ukrainians “Little Russians’ since they are both Slavs and are similar. Putin’s February 2022 invasion was intended to capture and annex all of Ukraine. In order to add 42 million new Ukrainian Slavs to the Russian total Slav population of 107 million. That is getting out-birthed by Russia’s Muslims and other minorities.
Give the Putin demon his due. He knows that demographics is destiny.