IMHO, Russia thought a blitzkrieg to Kiev would work.
Not only did they not have Germany’s equipment and precision…Xi totally screwed Putin by asking him to wait until the Chinese Olympics were done. They then got bogged down by “General Mud” (look it up).
Yes, 40,000 troops were going to take a city of 3 million people in a "blitzkrieg".
Then why wasn’t Kiev leveled like Grozny
Why is the power still on everywhere but the Donbas and some of Luhansk?
Those Chinese tires Russia traded for oil didn’t hold up very well under Ukranian winter driving conditions either. Will be interesting to see how General Mud and King Winter work for Russian troops this winter. An interest factoid about Alexander Dugin, in addition to fomenting importance of separating UK and US from European cooperation, he also said that Russia would have to control China to achieve their giant Eurasia country from Belfast to Vladivostok.