That's almost certainly going to be the narrative going forward. They'll tell us that Putin's actual plan was to invade Poland, and if there's any rump state left in western Ukraine that's proof that NATO succeeded to thwart Russia.
They never wanted the whole of Ukraine. That was just our propaganda fear mongering. They simply do not want a super power next to their border or their weapons. Remember the USA almost started WW3 with the Cuban Missile crisis? Same thing, here.
They wanted a buffer State/area. The west of Ukraine absolutely hates Russia, they could have never been able to hold it. Ever. This was obvious, sans propaganda. I mean, they stated as such. Did you not read about the Minsk II agreements that the UK and the USA help sabotage? If Ukraine had gone along with it then, then tens of thousands of Ukrainians would still be alive. Along with Russians, I guess.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minsk_agreements
Source: Studied Geopolitics. Also, I can read past propaganda from both sides.
Really makes Boris Johnson sabotaging those earlier peace talks look like it's responsible for a bunch of death and destruction and nothing else huh.
Boris is directly personally responsible for all the horrors that unfolded after March.
In addition, there's a new interview with Zaluzhny in The Economist where he basically says that Ukraine would need a whole new army to win the war.
"They can't do that! You can't negotiate with Hitler, remember? That's appeasement!"
"Who are they to tell Ukraine anything! It's a sovereign country! By telling them to negotiate they're basically helping Putin! Fuck those pro-Russian traitors!"
"Ukraine's negotiation position is weak now, they will be in a much better position after the upcoming spring offensive!"
