Here's a thought....
Maybe an outlandish one, but one of those "what if" scenarios that's interesting to ponder....
Is it possible that maybe, (not thinking his military losses would be as extensive as they have been), Russia went into this willing to sacrifice a certain percentage of its military knowing there would be significant losses, but with no expectations of or real desire for a successful outcome, outside of draining the resources and damaging the economies of the west and throwing us into political turmoil?
Is it possible that, knowing Europe and the US would dump tons of money into Ukraine and that, combined with what the invasion has done to gas prices and western economies, it could be two prongs of a larger plan by Russia to cause economic damage and chaos in the US and abroad?
In short, could this entire invasion have been a giant, cruel hoax that was never intended to result in Russia retaking Ukraine, but only to weaken and destabilize the West?
Just a thought.