I think it's a delusion. The only way the west could hope to defeat Russia would be for NATO to go all in and that would mean a nuclear war. On top of that, it's also becoming clear that US is now going to be focused on the election cycle, and putting boots on the ground would mean throwing the election. And of course, US sees China as its main adversary, so there is a limit to how much US is willing to commit to a proxy war against Russia. Without the US there's simply no chance of Europe being able to fight Russia on their own.
I think it's a delusion. The only way the west could hope to defeat Russia would be for NATO to go all in and that would mean a nuclear war. On top of that, it's also becoming clear that US is now going to be focused on the election cycle, and putting boots on the ground would mean throwing the election. And of course, US sees China as its main adversary, so there is a limit to how much US is willing to commit to a proxy war against Russia. Without the US there's simply no chance of Europe being able to fight Russia on their own.