>>511078331 (OP)You're assuming there was something Russia could've done that would've resulted in a better outcome for Russia. There probably wasn't.
With the tech at play in this war, it's likely that a "quick and clean" war probably wasn't possible. The new reality of ubiquitous cheap drones and massive reconnaissance satellite constellations mean there can be no surprise. Starlink means Ukraine has superior command and control systems. Both sides have about the same types of weapons; no side has any unique "super weapon" to which the enemy has no counter. So it has to be a war of attrition.
Ukraine was in 2022 about to start mass production of the Korshun, Neptune and Hrim-2 missiles. If Russia hadn't launched the full scale attack, there still would've inevitably been an armed conflict in a few years over Crimea/Donbass since Ukraine insisted on joining NATO, but that future conflict would've been against an Ukraine armed to the teeth with jet-powered cruise missiles and ballistic missiles that can reach Moscow. The drones with 70kg warheads that Ukraine builds with German two-stroke piston engines do barely any damage in comparison.