Once civilians are evacuated then Russia is free to turn the cities to rubble and killing most of those still trapped within. Things will start moving more quickly now, Ukraine will be destroyed, and only an unground insurgency left (financed by the West) that will linger on as long as possible to further weaken and isolate Russia. That was the plan all along. Too bad for Ukraine though, there won’t be anything left for them to return to.
“Once civilians are evacuated then Russia is free to turn the cities to rubble and killing most of those still trapped within.”
Same thing would happen if Ukraine surrendered. Better to fight and die than live without freedom.
Russia will have won a Pyrrhic victory, and will forever be despised and vilified and condemned. And that is one thing Russians fear above all else: National humiliation. And they will have it.