[cpursley]

Not Russian but B1 level Russian speaker with lots of experience in that country and armchair general of the 404th chairborn division.

On your 2nd and 3rd points, you might be right. But have you considered the Russian war technique of Maskirovka and military feints?

Maybe (somewhat) surrounding the capital city was pure incompetence or was actually part of the plan, either way, it sufficiency tied up and discombobulated Ukrainian forces and allowed Russia to advance in the Donboss.

It's interesting to read comments from other Westerners who are so totally sure of Russias objectives but have never read Putin's invasion speech (which lays out the stated objectives) or any other Russian officials comments. Because that would be below them; all Russians are alcoholic, corrupt barbarians, don't you know?

[Andrew_nenakhov]

> But have you considered the Russian war technique of Maskirovka and military feints?

From what information I was able to absorb about the start of the campaign, I think that Putin indeed was planning to take Kiev and Kharkiv in less than a week, and then suppress the riots there using riot police - as evidenced by him bringing in riot police troops equipped to disperse unarmed mobs, not to fight am army.

Regarding Putin's objectives, they were (I think, intentionally) very vague - 'denazify Ukraine' and 'secure Donbass'. So, for example, you can bomb a kindergarten and call it a day: Ukraine is now 'sufficiently denazified', Donbass is secure, and we can safely go home. With such goals, Putin can stop the war at any day and his propaganda corps will present any state of affairs as 'the greatest victory since WW2'.

[cpursley]

Possibly; it could have been a type of feint/maskirovka or simply an attempt to scare the Zelenski administration into an early agreement. Either way, it was never enough forces to actual subdue a city the size of Kiev. But it certainly distracted a lot of Ukrainian forces away from the main front.

I sure hope that it stops at Donbass (and that this nightmare ends asap). But if western weapons keep pouring into Ukraine (which were never going to be enough to defeat the Russian military), then Russia might think that it needs to take the entire country to put an end to the hostilities (hope not).

[trasz]

Once again, you're reading way too much Sputnik - those fantasies about "20%" choice is a direct quote from Russian propaganda. The reality is, Russia has invested everything they had in this war - and so far lost twice. The quickest way to end hostilities is to provide Ukraine with more weapons - because Russia needs to be bled out.