You contradicted yourself by posting this: “They intend to install a pro-Russia regime in Ukraine and permanently end any thoughts of NATO expansion into Ukraine.”
In order to do that Russia would have to take Kiev, which is the seat of Ukrainian government, and topple the Zelensky administration.
In order to do that Russia would have to take Kiev, which is the seat of Ukrainian government, and topple the Zelensky administration.
We now know that a deal was being made between the Zelensky regime and Russia to negotiate a peace that would result in exactly those terms, and that the US and its NATO allies in the EU managed to put the kibosh on it. Whatever else you can say about Zelensky, he knows how to broker a deal. There is absolutely no need for the Russians to reduce Kiev to a smoking ruin to acheive their objective. Though no doubt Putin is willing to do that if he thinks it's necessary to achieve his goals. But that's not what the Russians have said. It's worth watching actions and words. The Russians are dead serious about not having a NATO aligned Ukraine on their border, and incorporating the Russian speaking provinces into Mother Russia.
We don't have to like it, but unless we want to follow our feckless leaders as they blunder us into WWIII, we might want to examine the actual record before blithly making assumptions that are not supported by the facts.