“Long destructive slog of a war with the bigger side gaining ground. Its what I expected. And yet there are so many headlines that have come out that made it sound like the invasion and even Putin’s political power were on the verge of collapse.”
This war was sanctioned by the Russian establishment, regardless of Putin. The war will go on with or without Putin, personalities are trivial in this war.
Russia will turn Ukraine into waste land, they’ll knock down every building in the Ukraine, if it keeps The West out of Ukraine for a generation.
Russia has time, geography, history, and the will power to see their foreign policy through.
The West on the other hand has the patience of gnat, while waving their rainbow flags around.
There is a mental trap people fall for it seems when opining about this war. It starts with a true premise that it was morally wrong for Russia to invade. It ignores of course that it was very likely Russia would invade sometime unless diplomacy was handled just right. Turns out that the world has evil in it ever since the Fall in Eden. The trapped thinking eventually ends with useless sanctions and virtue signaling in solidarity with Ukraine and no course of action that might be helpful.
Russia is not going to turn the Ukraine into a wasteland. The fact that they have been restrained in their destruction of cities is why this thing has dragged out so long. The Russians have not even knocked out the power.