“The initial Russian invasion WAS the invasion, with all of Ukraine being the goal, Putin misjudged and is now caught in a draining hell that he did not think possible.”
The initial invasion force was tiny. According to basic military doctrine, far, far too small for a successful invasion and occupation. Putin and his generals knew this very well. It was not meant to take over all of Ukraine, despite the silly claims of Blinken & Friends. It was meant to rattle Zelensky into implementing a peace deal. And it very nearly worked.
Putin still doesn’t want all of Ukraine. What a headache that would be for him. He just wants that eastern part. He’s hardly Mr. Nice Guy, but he’s not stupid.
But if want want to believe all the nonsense Biden and Blinken and Nuland and the British tabloids have been spewing, go ahead. People often believe what they want to believe no matter what.
The invasion force was what Putin thought he needed to take the capitol and Ukraine, years later, you are rewriting the history when the reality is that most everyone assumed Ukraine was going to disappear from the list of nations, and quickly.
Now we are approaching year three and even Odessa is still free.
Let me guess. You read that in the talking points memo Putin's PR team sends out in the morning.
How would you know that?