to the delegitimisation effort - making out Ukraine isn’t really a country and is more a wayward province - the same way China looks at Taiwan. It’s more to do with the Russian internal effort to prepare for a long war and having made it, they don’t want to waste it. There will be no negotiated end
In the long run, unfortunately for all the fine Ukraini that are involved, I think it is better that russia is going to slug it out until they self-destruct. I hope the lame-ass bozos in the whitehouse finally get the message and back Ukraine.
So far so predictable. There was no way Putin was going to be seen in the same city as Zelenskyy, never mind the same room. Still, he got outmanoeuvred, again. Zelenskyy is playing this very well.