Maybe they’re not planning on beating Putin. Maybe they’re just planning on keeping him bogged down in the Ukraine, to show him the cost of recklessly invading another country. The Russian military isn’t all that good and their economy is in the dumpster - a costly intervention abroad might be, shall we say, chastening?
Putin’s using the sanctions to rebuild Russian indrusty and the war isn’t very costly to them. Last I checked they’re on track for more growth than we had last year. The sanctions are helping rather than harming just as they did to South Africa in the 70s and 80s.
>a costly intervention abroad might be, shall we say, chastening?
The Russians don’t view it that way. What they see is hypocritical American empire that violated the deal we made with Russia for early elections, who arms and trains Ukrainian Neo-Nazis to oppress Russian speakers, who’s words about illegal conquest are laughable due to our own illegal conquest of Kosovo. All they see is an American bully from our actions.