I think Putin is coming to a breaking point. Thousands of Russian mothers are not happy that their teenage boys have been sent to the front, have been given no training and are being shot at or taken prisoner. Putin can survive the death of thousands of prisoners but the anger of the Russian mother may bring him down.
What about the thousands of Ukraine mothers, fathers, wives, sisters and brothers whose loved ones are being rounded up to fight and die for a country that none of them can cast a vote in?