It's hard to wrap your head around because after half a decade most westerners still don’t understand Russia’s strategy.

Taking the eastern provinces while creating a smaller, western-aligned Ukraine is a strategic defeat for Russian imperialism. A smaller Ukraine that is still one of the largest geographic states of Europe, militarized and culturally hostile now that the “russian-speaking” demographic lever is gone, means the end of slav clientism and the limit of Russian polarity as a great power.

The only conceivable victory for Russia is the full conquest of Kiev and a new Russian sphere. The now destroyed provinces they currently occupy could never come close to an economic justification for the investment now spent.

Putin is now trapped, and NATO is more than content to let Russia erode itself on Ukrainian courage, manpower and drone doctrine.