Not a Russia simp, I’ve been watching this war with some interest, and I’ve got a friend whose only hobby at this point is following this war.
If you look at how much Russian military ops have changed across almost every consideration over the course of the war, it’s really a stark difference between where they are today and where they were two years ago. It’s pretty clear Russia totally bunglefucked the opening maneuvers in the war. They’ve had to learn a lot of lessons and learn them hard, and they’re still learning them, but they are learning. I definitely think that Russia really did expect this was going to be a cakewalk, and that they were going to force Kiev into negotiations or else kill Zelenskyy in the first week. I can’t be 100% sure what the Russian military leadership was expecting, but I seriously doubt it was this.