One thing we could have/should have learned (and maybe we, USA, did) is that ultimately you have to take the terrain. When Clinton bombed the hell out of Kosovo for 100 days they didn’t relent. Clinton didn’t want or couldn’t justify a ground invasion.
Opposite with Gulf War 1 Iraq and Kuwait. We had to ‘soften’ the resistance from the air first. But we only went to liberate Kuwait not to occupy Iraq at that time.
Putin may not have the capability to do it well so they went by ground. Or maybe it was a strategic blunder on his part. I did read that while they do have a decent air force considering their opponent, they don’t have the right munitions. Just a bunch of dumb bombs like WW2. Can’t hit targets with accuracy without flying low - making them vulnerable to anti-aircraft guns. So he’s bombing indiscriminately which is a horrible tragedy and war crime.
But in the end you can either destroy the place entirely, or you have to take the ground. Sort of depends on what your goal is. I do agree, robotics and the like can make a big difference in the future since you can be very selective about your targets and force change without having to occupy the ground.