Ukraine is hardly an ideal place for a dry run; it is a backwards failed state.
On the other hand, who's going to object if the government reworks everything during a wartime 'state of emergency'? And if any part of the 'reset plan' doesn't work, the failure will be irrelevant, because the apologists will point out Ukraine was in the middle of a war. It's a 'win-win' situation for the authoritarians, with little potential for harmful fallout (other than the radioactive kind ;>)...
How much easier is it do do the reset on a country that is not , oh what are we, used to be free, that is not free.
Thanks to US BTW. We told them we’d protect them if they gave up their nukes. Wonder how that worked out for the Ukes?-)