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Originally Posted by bronconick
I wonder if Putin saw our Afghan puppet state grab their millions and leave the country to the Taliban last summer in about three days and assume that a quick shock and awe border crossing would lead to surrenders and the Ukranian government fleeing. Now that's not the case, they're stuck trying to take Kiev with a less than fully prepared and supplied army
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Putin, I'm sure, assumed Zelensky would flee and that would lead to the fall of the Ukraine government and military within a couple of days. That's part of why he insisted it's not an invasion but instead a strategic military operation. They weren't prepared logistically or strategically for them to put up much of a fight.
What it's turned into is something they didn't expect and something they didn't want but they're kind of stuck at this point with no clear offramp that Putin would be willing to swallow.
This isn't just a massive strategic misstep when it comes to the invasion but keep in mind Putin's goals all along have been to get the former Soviet states back together, weaken NATO, and isolate Europe from US support. What's accomplished here is uniting world leadership in a way we haven't seen since 9/11.