This is the main problem for Ukraine. Putin is willing to destroy Ukraine. Despite his claim that Ukrainians are really Russians he is more than willing to kill them and destroy their country
Putin screwed things up and he’s looking at a Berlin Wall 2.0 division of Ukraine. 80% Euro Ukraine and 20% occupied by Mongol Russia. Sanctions forever. No cross border travel. A geopolitical disaster for Mongol Russia.
I see no desire by Putin to destroy Ukraine
Actually I see considerable restraint in that he is targeting choke points that have effective short term consequences but minimize long term destruction and make post war rebuilding easier
In 1941, as Nazi German troops swept through Soviet-era Ukraine, Josef Stalin’s secret police blew up a hydroelectric dam in the southern city of Zaporizhzhya to slow the Nazi advance. The explosion flooded villages along the banks of the Dnieper River, killing thousands of civilians.