Russia isn't stupid. They appear to be intentionally dragging out this war in Ukraine, just to hurt Europe. They can turn off energy pipelines at any moment. Ukraine could never win against Russia, but I imagine their male population is going to be decimated.
None of this bullshit had to happen. The goal of the US is to weaken Russia and Ukraine is just a pawn in this. For Russia, it may be to demonstrate the dependence that Europe has on Russia and what a bunch of assholes run the United States. They'll claim, at the end "it's not out fault this war took X years to fight, but the US forced it - sure it fucked over 750 million people in Europe - maybe you should rethink you alliances?"
- Russia says "if you send weapons we nuclear"
- We are sending weapons they drew a line at
- ¯\(ツ)/¯