While we can agree Russia has been failing as their initial unsuccessful strategy was to take Kiev in one fell swoop, it’s fairly widely agreed upon among Western intelligence agencies that their current strategy is a grinding war of attrition. So we shouldnt perceive them going slow as a sign of weakness. It’s their strategy. Whether it’s a viable strategy time will tell but it’s clear they don’t care if they have to put hundreds of thousands in the meat grinder or if it takes a decade, as long as they eventually achieve their goal. Part of their calculus is that democracies are inherently not as good at long term planning as autocracies.
While we can agree Russia has been failing as their initial unsuccessful strategy was to take Kiev in one fell swoop, it’s fairly widely agreed upon among Western intelligence agencies that their current strategy is a grinding war of attrition. So we shouldnt perceive them going slow as a sign of weakness. It’s their strategy. Whether it’s a viable strategy time will tell but it’s clear they don’t care if they have to put hundreds of thousands in the meat grinder or if it takes a decade, as long as they eventually achieve their goal. Part of their calculus is that democracies are inherently not as good at long term planning as autocracies.