>>512239596>>512239894Putin is not an idiot. The red line was crossed, he knew it would be crossed, it's what led to him finally making a formal decision about Ukraine in 2022. Putin knows what the West wants and seeks yet still plays along with the game leading to this attrition shitshow.
Sure, more bloodshed in the beginning would be the only thing that would be remembered, but it would also have prevented this slog and the effective disposable thorn that Ukraine has been set up to be against Russia.
Just as if Putin had acted far more decisively and aggressively in 2014, to have actually backed the Yanukovych government physically, then all of the events from then on could have been prevented. Would there have been problems, resistance, some bloodshed and hatred? Yes. But down the line it would have save the Ukraine as a nation, and it would saved many many of these people on both sides, and there would have never have been a chance for the West to get so embedded in your backyard.
Remember in the outset of 2022, during the initial weeks, the West didn't know how to react and already dismissed Ukraine's survival. Putin had the element of shock and did not use it, and slowly the West has been pushing him more and more.