Since this 3 day war is now in its 9th month and the Russians keep losing ground, I believe the world is more likely seeing the Russian military of 2021 as a Potemkin military.
Russians will gladly give up ground knowing they can retake it just to continue the process of destroying Ukrainian manpower and military hardware Ukraine can NOT afford to lose.
It’s called, drag in and destroy and been working effectively for about 4-5 months now......
Are you sure you was a NATO warrior under Reagan? What is your plan for fighting a “million men army” with a limited force of 160k when the objective is to keep the collateral damage at minimum?