Pray Russia never takes off the gloves. It’s tragic the loss of life already, but there won’t be a Uke left minus the ones who fled.
Many up in my area. They sure hate Zelensky with a passion.
Putin simply does not have Stalin's ability to coerce new divisions into existence. Russia's political weakness also hamstrings its operations because Putin cannot call up troops from the major metropolitan areas of Moscow and St. Petersburg because of fear of the political fallout. The Russian government is also wracked by internal political struggles with possibly deadly consequences for the higher ups. Shoigu's daughter and her family are cooling their heels in the UAE for a reason. Not exactly a vote of confidence in the system. Like Hitler, Putin plays favorites and sets commanders against one another and gives orders impossible or destructive to fulfill.
As far as the hate goes, that is reciprocated by the Ukrainians, the Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Georgians etc. Virtually every nation around Russia hates Russia with a passion and for good reason. And Putin has performed the alchemical miracle of converting a great deal of Ukraine's Russian speakers into Ukrainians.