If you said that in April I would have agreed with you. But not today in October.
Feb 24, if instead of invading Kyiv, putin just absorbed the dpr and lpr into Russia then NATO and the usa would do nothing, Zelensky would have been voted out in a year and NATO would continue to crumble.
Salami tactics worked.
But Putin’s ego got the better of him and he is losing all he gained
Putin hasn’t lost. He is amassing the strategic bombers on the border, meaning he will now bring out airpower and fight more conventionally. What is happening now is preparation.
The Russians are supposed to have calculated if Republicans win big in November, the funding for Kiev will dry up because non of us want this bill for that little putz Zelensky and Biden and Soros, and once that funding is gone, Putin can do what he wants there then.
And what the Russians believe is that it will damage the democrats to have a replay of Afghanistan right before the election. It will make Biden look like a loser and hurt all the left-wing candidates.
I would assume you will see a blitzkrieg starting around the 15th, to the 25th, designed to produce a full collapse by Nov 3rd, which will be aired on every network, and make Biden and the Democrats look incompetent. They may even begin bombing Kiev, though word is they do not want to hurt Zelensky as they feel he is weak and would be fine to sign any surrender, and the next puppet may be more competent and not shooting promo videos with a big pile of cocaine right on their desk, like Zelensky did.
After that, I assume whatever is left of Ukraine that Putin doesn’t want, he may leave to Kiev, or he might take the whole thing.