1.) Russia thought they could achieve their objectives on the cheap.
2.) Ukraine bloodied their noses.
3.) Russia geared up for war.
That's it, in a nutshell.
Geared up conscripts...poorly trained and equipped, and poorly led.
LOL, complete garbage. Russia has been methodical in it’s execution of this operation. With a kill ratio of about 14 to 1, it’s one for the textbooks.
More likely Russia thought that calmer heads would prevail after Biden basically assured them that we wouldn't do anything if it was a “minor incursion”. They made the incorrect assumption that the “invasion” would prompt a negotiation which gave them an upper hand and that our puppet Zelinsky would roll over. Instead, all this obfuscating was used by deep state Neocons to lure Putin into an ill-conceived “trap” that they thought would end his regime. Now everyone has egg on their face and hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians and Russians have been slaughtered as a result.
The results are that the sanctions have been a complete failure. Putin is as strong as ever. Their economy has been converted to a war time economy. The US dollar is losing its place as the trading currency for energy. China has been emboldened and will likely take Taiwan before Biden leaves office. Vast sums of money have been wasted with a large percentage laundered back into the hands of the Democrats and deep state Republicans none of whom could care less that there is buckets of blood on the money and that our credibility is now in the toilet.
No good will ever come from any of this. The primary residual we have on the forum is a cadre of fools that have completely bought into the massive amount of propaganda and are cheering on the continuing blood fest and believe that the Biden administration is capable of "winning" anything.