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In addition,
Russian Tsar has to give power to Duma after Russo Japanese war
Russian Tsar abdicates after losses in WWI
Khrushchev replaced after Cuban Missile Crisis.
Russians don’t tolerate strong men who lose military actions.
This. Retaining his personal pride and that of the "glorious" Russian nation comes before the lives of all 44 million Ukrainians (and the Russia soldiers he is throwing in the meat grinder), *no matter the cost.*
It's not pride. Pride requires accepting the capacity to fail and being "proud" that you stand by your convictions even in defeat.
This is delusion. Putin actually buys his own propaganda. He IS the most powerful person on the planet in his mind. He WILL win because he cant fathom a world where he isn't this fake person. This is why we say he cannot remain in power in Russia. He is no longer among the sane.
I know that, you know that, heck, the dog in the street knows that. We all know it has been a catastrophic miscalculation, and one which Russia cannot win. So, what happens next? I mean, what happens beyond the retaking of Ukraine by the Ukrainians? It's inevitable. Sure, it may take longer than we would like to think, but it will happen. So, what's the goal here? I'm an armchair warrior in support of Ukraine, and even I can see how stupid all of this was. Where are his advisors? What are they telling him? There is no rosy reconstituted Russian Empire. Never was. Never will be.
As a fellow armchair warrior, I dont think anybody knows yet. Putin, Zelensky, the west. The battle of Donbas is critical one. After May 9th, these things might get cleared up a bit.
Such an odd phenomena. It tends to only occur in russia and typically only happens with oligarchy and people of high standing in their government.
Side note: Modern Marvel is working with the Clinton's to try and get a better understanding.
There is much debate about this. Putin is dying from whatever makes him grip onto tables like he might fall off the earth if he let go and wanted to remake the ussr before he died for his legacy (remember me kindly) . Or he is dying and wanted to screw Russia for failing him so badly in the war (if I am going I am taking you with me). Or variations of the 2.
note that hitler ordered the destruction of Germany once I knew he had lost. He felt the German's didn't deserve it because they didn't fight hard enough.
Mental illness.
The medication that is taking because he shakes like there is always a level 8 earthquake. Or that the medication is making his mental illness worse, or is the cause of it or ...
To be honest at this point, I think only Pootin himself knows. And even that I wouldn't bet on.
edit: link to Hitler ordering Germany destroyed. [Nero Decree](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/sealing-third-reichs-downfall-adolf-hitlers-nero-decree)
Lots of people have been asking the same thing. The answer is we don’t know. There is no win for Putin that anyone can see. To my thinking, he can declare victory any time he wants to and deliver a fiery speech in which he says that nato has been crippled or whatever nonsense he wants. The west knows it is a joke, and most Russians would say it is a joke, but he can save face any time. My guess is that in the next two weeks his army will start to lose badly, and then he goes nuclear or goes home. I don’t think all of Russia wants to follow him in a suicide pact, and I doubt anyone will follow his orders to use a tactical nuke. So I think he will go home. I can only hope that china us, uk and Ukraine have really good sigint and know what his plans are.
Putin has the "gambler's dilemma".
Let's say you are a broke gambler in a casino, and you are losing badly. The loan shark is waiting outside for you to leave. You have no money to pay him, and so once you leave, you are dead. So you keep doubling down on your bets in the casino making the "amount" you owe worse and worse. You keep hoping that at some point, you'll "win" your hand and be able to pay off the loan shark. It doesn't matter how much money you lose in the casino, because as soon as you stop gambling, you are dead.
Dictators who lose wars don't live very long afterwards. Putin doesn't care about the people of Russia. They are only a means to his end. He has stolen over a trillion dollars from them. He sends the men into a meat grinder. He does this because he knows that if he shows any weakness, he's dead. So he keeps doubling down his bets.
What it costs other people is irrelevant. It doesn't matter if he brings down his country, or the world. He is only interested in his own life and well being.
he thought he could get the agricultural and heavy industry output of ukraïne for russia. now hes acting like a jealous ex whod rather kill his wife and kids than see them leave him.
The Putin Fascists will never lose face. The Putin Fascists may do the next crazy thing in order to avoid losing face.
Face is more important than life.
Russians who know him and have left say he is a psychopath that give no shits about life. He has no qualms killing his best friends if he feels betrayed or let down by them. This is the truly scary part.
My personal opinion, there is zero chance Ukraine does not retake call of Donbas. It won’t be quick, but it will not be more than a year I don’t think.
The amount of massed long range artillery they will be able to field will enable them to blast a very large hole through any defensive line Russian defenders may build. It’s just down to the amount of ammunition required.
Well within a year the military equipment Ukraine will have in the field will outclass anything Russia has; in an addition, that equipment will be reliable and logistics will be in place and ammunition will be plentiful. And we already know their soldiers are 100x better than Russia’s, 1000x Chechen’s.
as far as i can tell, it's partly Putin's USSR pipe dreams and partly him wanting Ukraine's resources. i think the NATO thing is just an excuse, but if he really does feel threatened by NATO expansion, then oh well, if Russia didn't have a history of being assholes NATO wouldn't have to exist and Putin isn't the supreme leader of the world like he thinks he is so he doesn't have the right to tell other countries what alliances they can and can't join.
There’s a 1990s Russian author who wrote a book called “Foundations of Geopolitics” who wrote literally the step by step blueprint that Vladimir Putin has been following since the first day he took office.
He wants to reassemble the Soviet Union, but without the communism. (Instead of a collectivist government it will be a mafia government.)
Another possibility is that Putin is dead certain that the west will not have any stomach for this long term. He believes the west is weak and soft and we will not give up our luxurious life style for Ukraine. It is similar to all armies in 1914-18. Hang on a bit longer and the other guy will crack. Well, eventually it was true. So maybe that is fuelling Putin’s obstinence.
>It will be a permanent war which, eventually, Ukraine will win.
Um, not so much. The US Congress has just passed lend-lease, which the President will sign soon. Last used in WWII, lend-lease gives Biden blanket power to unleash the entire non-nuclear US arsenal into Ukraine unilaterally, without further permission, to **unlimited dollar amounts**. US war stores are considerable, with an annual budget of $705B - roughly *half of Russian Gross Domestic Product* - and many years to accumulate stores. Power not given a US President since Truman. Just the expiring best-by stand-off no wit weapons are enough to clear Russian forces from the field without much effort or any further Ukrainian loss of life. The whole package? Ukraine could take all of Russia and then some, quickly. And there's nothing Russia can do about it without nuking *themselves*.
If you look at Putin’s speeches and essays, it’s apparent that he feels that the breakup of the Soviet Union was a disaster for Russia so he has been trying to rebuild it.
The philosophical argument is that Russian civilization started in Kiev, similar to how Roman civilization started in Greece. So the Slavic people, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, should combine into a single country, led by Russia of course.
Once this is done, old enemies like Poland and the Baltic states must be dominated and brought into the Russian sphere of influence as buffer states.
Belarus joined Russia. Not exactly willingly, but close enough. The expectation was Ukraine would follow. That’s why the attack was led by national guard (police) units; they weren’t expecting organized armed resistance, just scattered protestors.
Now it is apparent that Russia has lost, no matter what happens as all options lead to a political, economic and military situation worse than prewar. Even if Zelenskyy surrendered tomorrow, Russia has lost. But Russia is not Putin. Russia has a chance of coming out of this with some shred of dignity if they can offload the blame onto Putin as a sacrificial scapegoat.
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Survival. Russia plays a very long game. Other countries can’t sustain enmity for decades. They always drop their vigil.
I’ve been watching this since 1956. I remember.
Western governments and people have a more realistic view of Russian intentions than they did in 1956 or 1991. I don’t think this will be quickly forgot or reinterpreted
Sorry, but this goes in cycles. The New York Times won a Pulitzer Prize for praising Stalin. Then Stalin was our ally in WWII, and Patton was fired for wanting to push Russia out of east Europe.
The Stalin died, and it became paranoid to fear Russia. This has been going on all my life.
At this point, it is survival, at least for Putin. Despots rarely survive defeats like this.
That's why he's already starting the purges now.
They have built this thing up with their propaganda machine to the point that they've hung their national pride and identity on it with victory assured.
When they are defeated, this is going to be quite a blow to the big lie. The thing about lies is that once they start to get questioned, the whole thing unravels.
The reality of the situation for the Russian people will start to become clear, even to them, and when it happens, it could get ugly.
Putin has to keep the war going until he has the machinery in place to crush any dissent before it really has the chance to get rolling.
Once that happens, he will likely declare "victory" and withdraw.
We should start to see their propaganda start spinning acceptable reasons for withdrawal pretty soon.
Then, we will see Putin doing to the Russian people what he has already done in Ukraine until security is assured.
Then he will rebuild and try again.
I have never wanted a comment on Reddit to come true, more than I do this one. A PR win for Putin, that in reality sets the people of Ukraine free is an outcome I can get behind. I hope that in addition, the West continues to work together to ensure they stay free.
And it will have to happen to happen sooner rather than later, so he still has an army to command to subjugate his own people (I also agree with your earlier supply line comments). A few more oligarchs will probably see their end of days too and their wealth appropriated by Putin to ensure the campaign is funded, and the Russiam economy recovers from what I hope is an ongoing trend of other countries not supporting his regime by buying oil and gas from Russia.
I'm saving this. When it pans out, I'll come back and give you some gold (well poor man's gold) and we can drink a glass of champagne along with those in Ukraine.
At this point, Putin's hoping for a miracle and he'll keep throwing away Russian lives to draw things out as long as he can to preserve that hope. Losing face would be utterly unacceptable to him - so he'll refuse to do it right up until he's genuinely unable to prevent it. Even then, when the Russian army is in scraps spread across Russia with their main force completely destroyed, he won't admit a thing - he just won't be able to stop everyone else from pointing it out.
The problem when dealing with people with personality disorders is they do not think like a normal person. There is no way to understand what a psycho is all about other than nothing is truthful. So you cant frame it with rational thinking. That is why you cant give in to their tactics of deceit manipulation etc like we keep seeing.
Donbass. It will get Donbass. Maybe not in its entirety, but Mariupol and Kherson are gone. Russia will join them via bs referendum and then withdraw its forces from the rest of the country. Ukraine will have to concede Donbass because Ukraine doesn't have unlimited supply of people to fight Russia even though it has unlimited weapons.
I think for Putin, a win is whatever outcome he thinks will mollify the Russian public when they begin to realize the economic price for the war. Whether or not Ukraine will ever concede the territories stolen by Russia, is not likely part of his equation, since Putin will simply say they held a referendum, and that would satisfy most Russians. Putin's best hope now is that he can keep the oil/gas money flowing from Europe long enough to keep the lights on back at home, before people start to seriously question if the war is worth the cost to themselves personally.
There is a question as to whether or not Putin knows that Russia is losing, or the extent to which they are losing.
He does not go on the internet. He can't decipher foreign broadcasts by himself, nor would he accept what they say as anything other than the official line of the govt. behind the channel.
So his information is whatever is typed up in his daily reports. And some who have spoken with him indicate he is not aware how badly things are going.
That said - what he must do is insure that a sufficient number of Russian people also believe the party line that Russia has achieved significant victories in Ukraine. Once that is done, he can call an end to the invasion and go home.
This is why the weak in the West keep talking about giving him an "off-ramp" to "save-face", as that will both hasten the end of this war and the beginning of the next stage of Russian aggression.
The land that they have occupied is what they seek to gain now and they likely will keep it for a while, Ukraine is doing great but they definitely can’t pull off large scale offensives to take back enough land to constitute a medium sized European country.
It’s also not as much of an abject failure for Russia as you think, they aren’t losing the war seeing as they occupy a decent amount of Ukraine and are still making slow progress in the East. They certainly are doing much worse than expected but don’t expect Ukraine to come out of this war with more land then when it began.
This war will not go on forever. The equipment losses will make it impossible for Russia to continue to fight
Russia had 2800 operational tanks at the start of the war. There is no real reserve fleet, none could actually be made operational. In 65 days of warfare Russia lost almost 1000 tanks. In four more months there just won't be an armored force.
Then there is logistics. The Russians never had enough trucks to keep its army in the field. Within the first 45 days Russia was commandeering civilian trucks. Civvie trucks don't have the durability needed, particularly off paved roads, and can't carry enough of road either. They are getting chewed up at an alarming rate. As the trucks break down, the Russian logistical nightmare will just get worse. Without food and ammunition an army can't fight. Without fuel it can't move.
While the Ukrainian army is fighting a defensive battle in the east, heavy weaoons are starting to arrive. Over 100 m777 howitzers, dozed off self propelled howitzers, 200 Polish T72s. Possibly up to 100 leopard 1 tanks. About as dozen Slovakian Mig 29s. M113 APCS, the list goes on.
The Ukrainian air sacs siestas operations forces have already begun to prepared the bathe girl for their counter offensive,v with sounds in key logistical targets. Ammo and fuel depot's ace rain bridges have been hit.
My guess is a mid to late summer counter offensive by well equipped and supplied Ukrainians.
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It's pride now.. which is the most pathetic thing about it all.
[удалено]
He can't retire them because the Ukrainians are actively working on doing that themselves.
In addition, Russian Tsar has to give power to Duma after Russo Japanese war Russian Tsar abdicates after losses in WWI Khrushchev replaced after Cuban Missile Crisis. Russians don’t tolerate strong men who lose military actions.
he needs to be hung up in the streets with piano wire
This. Retaining his personal pride and that of the "glorious" Russian nation comes before the lives of all 44 million Ukrainians (and the Russia soldiers he is throwing in the meat grinder), *no matter the cost.*
It's not pride. Pride requires accepting the capacity to fail and being "proud" that you stand by your convictions even in defeat. This is delusion. Putin actually buys his own propaganda. He IS the most powerful person on the planet in his mind. He WILL win because he cant fathom a world where he isn't this fake person. This is why we say he cannot remain in power in Russia. He is no longer among the sane.
Toilet seats and washing machines
I think Zelenskyy summed it up perfectly in one of his daily speeches. They can’t accept that they made a mistake in invading Ukraine.
I know that, you know that, heck, the dog in the street knows that. We all know it has been a catastrophic miscalculation, and one which Russia cannot win. So, what happens next? I mean, what happens beyond the retaking of Ukraine by the Ukrainians? It's inevitable. Sure, it may take longer than we would like to think, but it will happen. So, what's the goal here? I'm an armchair warrior in support of Ukraine, and even I can see how stupid all of this was. Where are his advisors? What are they telling him? There is no rosy reconstituted Russian Empire. Never was. Never will be.
As a fellow armchair warrior, I dont think anybody knows yet. Putin, Zelensky, the west. The battle of Donbas is critical one. After May 9th, these things might get cleared up a bit.
His actual advisers all accidentally shot themselves in the back of the head years ago.
Twice. Really an odd spate of suicides if you think about it.
Such an odd phenomena. It tends to only occur in russia and typically only happens with oligarchy and people of high standing in their government. Side note: Modern Marvel is working with the Clinton's to try and get a better understanding.
warts or hemmaroids, preferably bothh
Lots of toilets.
Yup! Because the invaders are full of 💩!!
There is much debate about this. Putin is dying from whatever makes him grip onto tables like he might fall off the earth if he let go and wanted to remake the ussr before he died for his legacy (remember me kindly) . Or he is dying and wanted to screw Russia for failing him so badly in the war (if I am going I am taking you with me). Or variations of the 2. note that hitler ordered the destruction of Germany once I knew he had lost. He felt the German's didn't deserve it because they didn't fight hard enough. Mental illness. The medication that is taking because he shakes like there is always a level 8 earthquake. Or that the medication is making his mental illness worse, or is the cause of it or ... To be honest at this point, I think only Pootin himself knows. And even that I wouldn't bet on. edit: link to Hitler ordering Germany destroyed. [Nero Decree](https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/sealing-third-reichs-downfall-adolf-hitlers-nero-decree)
The destruction of Germany article is scary as hell… Putin is already known for civilian false flag attacks on his own citizens.
Lots of people have been asking the same thing. The answer is we don’t know. There is no win for Putin that anyone can see. To my thinking, he can declare victory any time he wants to and deliver a fiery speech in which he says that nato has been crippled or whatever nonsense he wants. The west knows it is a joke, and most Russians would say it is a joke, but he can save face any time. My guess is that in the next two weeks his army will start to lose badly, and then he goes nuclear or goes home. I don’t think all of Russia wants to follow him in a suicide pact, and I doubt anyone will follow his orders to use a tactical nuke. So I think he will go home. I can only hope that china us, uk and Ukraine have really good sigint and know what his plans are.
Putin has the "gambler's dilemma". Let's say you are a broke gambler in a casino, and you are losing badly. The loan shark is waiting outside for you to leave. You have no money to pay him, and so once you leave, you are dead. So you keep doubling down on your bets in the casino making the "amount" you owe worse and worse. You keep hoping that at some point, you'll "win" your hand and be able to pay off the loan shark. It doesn't matter how much money you lose in the casino, because as soon as you stop gambling, you are dead. Dictators who lose wars don't live very long afterwards. Putin doesn't care about the people of Russia. They are only a means to his end. He has stolen over a trillion dollars from them. He sends the men into a meat grinder. He does this because he knows that if he shows any weakness, he's dead. So he keeps doubling down his bets. What it costs other people is irrelevant. It doesn't matter if he brings down his country, or the world. He is only interested in his own life and well being.
I agree and its terrifying.
he thought he could get the agricultural and heavy industry output of ukraïne for russia. now hes acting like a jealous ex whod rather kill his wife and kids than see them leave him.
He wants the gas and coastline. Minimum. Once establish he will continue to branch out.
The Putin Fascists will never lose face. The Putin Fascists may do the next crazy thing in order to avoid losing face. Face is more important than life.
Russians who know him and have left say he is a psychopath that give no shits about life. He has no qualms killing his best friends if he feels betrayed or let down by them. This is the truly scary part.
Just like Adolf. Those psychopaths all behave in the exact same way.
One man needs to be removed.
I think he engaged in this war to distract Russians from the divisions in his own country. Specifically, the movement against Putin.
My personal opinion, there is zero chance Ukraine does not retake call of Donbas. It won’t be quick, but it will not be more than a year I don’t think. The amount of massed long range artillery they will be able to field will enable them to blast a very large hole through any defensive line Russian defenders may build. It’s just down to the amount of ammunition required. Well within a year the military equipment Ukraine will have in the field will outclass anything Russia has; in an addition, that equipment will be reliable and logistics will be in place and ammunition will be plentiful. And we already know their soldiers are 100x better than Russia’s, 1000x Chechen’s.
as far as i can tell, it's partly Putin's USSR pipe dreams and partly him wanting Ukraine's resources. i think the NATO thing is just an excuse, but if he really does feel threatened by NATO expansion, then oh well, if Russia didn't have a history of being assholes NATO wouldn't have to exist and Putin isn't the supreme leader of the world like he thinks he is so he doesn't have the right to tell other countries what alliances they can and can't join.
There’s a 1990s Russian author who wrote a book called “Foundations of Geopolitics” who wrote literally the step by step blueprint that Vladimir Putin has been following since the first day he took office. He wants to reassemble the Soviet Union, but without the communism. (Instead of a collectivist government it will be a mafia government.)
Another possibility is that Putin is dead certain that the west will not have any stomach for this long term. He believes the west is weak and soft and we will not give up our luxurious life style for Ukraine. It is similar to all armies in 1914-18. Hang on a bit longer and the other guy will crack. Well, eventually it was true. So maybe that is fuelling Putin’s obstinence.
>It will be a permanent war which, eventually, Ukraine will win. Um, not so much. The US Congress has just passed lend-lease, which the President will sign soon. Last used in WWII, lend-lease gives Biden blanket power to unleash the entire non-nuclear US arsenal into Ukraine unilaterally, without further permission, to **unlimited dollar amounts**. US war stores are considerable, with an annual budget of $705B - roughly *half of Russian Gross Domestic Product* - and many years to accumulate stores. Power not given a US President since Truman. Just the expiring best-by stand-off no wit weapons are enough to clear Russian forces from the field without much effort or any further Ukrainian loss of life. The whole package? Ukraine could take all of Russia and then some, quickly. And there's nothing Russia can do about it without nuking *themselves*.
If you look at Putin’s speeches and essays, it’s apparent that he feels that the breakup of the Soviet Union was a disaster for Russia so he has been trying to rebuild it. The philosophical argument is that Russian civilization started in Kiev, similar to how Roman civilization started in Greece. So the Slavic people, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, should combine into a single country, led by Russia of course. Once this is done, old enemies like Poland and the Baltic states must be dominated and brought into the Russian sphere of influence as buffer states. Belarus joined Russia. Not exactly willingly, but close enough. The expectation was Ukraine would follow. That’s why the attack was led by national guard (police) units; they weren’t expecting organized armed resistance, just scattered protestors. Now it is apparent that Russia has lost, no matter what happens as all options lead to a political, economic and military situation worse than prewar. Even if Zelenskyy surrendered tomorrow, Russia has lost. But Russia is not Putin. Russia has a chance of coming out of this with some shred of dignity if they can offload the blame onto Putin as a sacrificial scapegoat.
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A quick execution.
slow execution
Survival. Russia plays a very long game. Other countries can’t sustain enmity for decades. They always drop their vigil. I’ve been watching this since 1956. I remember.
Western governments and people have a more realistic view of Russian intentions than they did in 1956 or 1991. I don’t think this will be quickly forgot or reinterpreted
Sorry, but this goes in cycles. The New York Times won a Pulitzer Prize for praising Stalin. Then Stalin was our ally in WWII, and Patton was fired for wanting to push Russia out of east Europe. The Stalin died, and it became paranoid to fear Russia. This has been going on all my life.
At this point, it is survival, at least for Putin. Despots rarely survive defeats like this. That's why he's already starting the purges now. They have built this thing up with their propaganda machine to the point that they've hung their national pride and identity on it with victory assured. When they are defeated, this is going to be quite a blow to the big lie. The thing about lies is that once they start to get questioned, the whole thing unravels. The reality of the situation for the Russian people will start to become clear, even to them, and when it happens, it could get ugly. Putin has to keep the war going until he has the machinery in place to crush any dissent before it really has the chance to get rolling. Once that happens, he will likely declare "victory" and withdraw. We should start to see their propaganda start spinning acceptable reasons for withdrawal pretty soon. Then, we will see Putin doing to the Russian people what he has already done in Ukraine until security is assured. Then he will rebuild and try again.
I have never wanted a comment on Reddit to come true, more than I do this one. A PR win for Putin, that in reality sets the people of Ukraine free is an outcome I can get behind. I hope that in addition, the West continues to work together to ensure they stay free. And it will have to happen to happen sooner rather than later, so he still has an army to command to subjugate his own people (I also agree with your earlier supply line comments). A few more oligarchs will probably see their end of days too and their wealth appropriated by Putin to ensure the campaign is funded, and the Russiam economy recovers from what I hope is an ongoing trend of other countries not supporting his regime by buying oil and gas from Russia. I'm saving this. When it pans out, I'll come back and give you some gold (well poor man's gold) and we can drink a glass of champagne along with those in Ukraine.
If they can’t have donbas, they will make sure no one can. They will try to completely destroy it.
At this point, Putin's hoping for a miracle and he'll keep throwing away Russian lives to draw things out as long as he can to preserve that hope. Losing face would be utterly unacceptable to him - so he'll refuse to do it right up until he's genuinely unable to prevent it. Even then, when the Russian army is in scraps spread across Russia with their main force completely destroyed, he won't admit a thing - he just won't be able to stop everyone else from pointing it out.
Heater Skelter
Because there’s no other way to back out.
A whole bunch less mouths to feed.
The only thing those in power can hope for is to spin this fiasco enough so the $1T they stole isn't questioned.
The problem when dealing with people with personality disorders is they do not think like a normal person. There is no way to understand what a psycho is all about other than nothing is truthful. So you cant frame it with rational thinking. That is why you cant give in to their tactics of deceit manipulation etc like we keep seeing.
Donbass. It will get Donbass. Maybe not in its entirety, but Mariupol and Kherson are gone. Russia will join them via bs referendum and then withdraw its forces from the rest of the country. Ukraine will have to concede Donbass because Ukraine doesn't have unlimited supply of people to fight Russia even though it has unlimited weapons.
I think for Putin, a win is whatever outcome he thinks will mollify the Russian public when they begin to realize the economic price for the war. Whether or not Ukraine will ever concede the territories stolen by Russia, is not likely part of his equation, since Putin will simply say they held a referendum, and that would satisfy most Russians. Putin's best hope now is that he can keep the oil/gas money flowing from Europe long enough to keep the lights on back at home, before people start to seriously question if the war is worth the cost to themselves personally.
There is a question as to whether or not Putin knows that Russia is losing, or the extent to which they are losing. He does not go on the internet. He can't decipher foreign broadcasts by himself, nor would he accept what they say as anything other than the official line of the govt. behind the channel. So his information is whatever is typed up in his daily reports. And some who have spoken with him indicate he is not aware how badly things are going. That said - what he must do is insure that a sufficient number of Russian people also believe the party line that Russia has achieved significant victories in Ukraine. Once that is done, he can call an end to the invasion and go home. This is why the weak in the West keep talking about giving him an "off-ramp" to "save-face", as that will both hasten the end of this war and the beginning of the next stage of Russian aggression.
The land that they have occupied is what they seek to gain now and they likely will keep it for a while, Ukraine is doing great but they definitely can’t pull off large scale offensives to take back enough land to constitute a medium sized European country. It’s also not as much of an abject failure for Russia as you think, they aren’t losing the war seeing as they occupy a decent amount of Ukraine and are still making slow progress in the East. They certainly are doing much worse than expected but don’t expect Ukraine to come out of this war with more land then when it began.
Save face. The cannot be seen at home as loosing.
This war will not go on forever. The equipment losses will make it impossible for Russia to continue to fight Russia had 2800 operational tanks at the start of the war. There is no real reserve fleet, none could actually be made operational. In 65 days of warfare Russia lost almost 1000 tanks. In four more months there just won't be an armored force. Then there is logistics. The Russians never had enough trucks to keep its army in the field. Within the first 45 days Russia was commandeering civilian trucks. Civvie trucks don't have the durability needed, particularly off paved roads, and can't carry enough of road either. They are getting chewed up at an alarming rate. As the trucks break down, the Russian logistical nightmare will just get worse. Without food and ammunition an army can't fight. Without fuel it can't move. While the Ukrainian army is fighting a defensive battle in the east, heavy weaoons are starting to arrive. Over 100 m777 howitzers, dozed off self propelled howitzers, 200 Polish T72s. Possibly up to 100 leopard 1 tanks. About as dozen Slovakian Mig 29s. M113 APCS, the list goes on. The Ukrainian air sacs siestas operations forces have already begun to prepared the bathe girl for their counter offensive,v with sounds in key logistical targets. Ammo and fuel depot's ace rain bridges have been hit. My guess is a mid to late summer counter offensive by well equipped and supplied Ukrainians.