Wrong. Putin never wanted to destroy Ukraine, never wanted to "conquer" Ukraine. The SMO he launched in February 2022 was designed solely to force Ukraine and the West to the negotiating table. He had tried everything else, and of course we all know that the Minsk Accords were just a ruse, a ploy to "buy time" to arm Ukraine, as Merkel and Hollande have admitted.

Putin "invaded" with a force of 150,000 men. This was never meant to be an invasion force, much less an occupation force (by contrast, when Hitler invaded Poland he did so with 1.5 million men). No - the SMO was designed to make the West pay attention and negotiate in good faith to ensure the neutrality of Ukraine and to assure the safety and autonomy of the Russian speaking oblasts in the East.

AND PUTIN'S PLAN WORKED!!

Russia and Ukraine negotiated in Istanbul all throughout March 2022.. By April 1 they had a 15 point agreement ready to sign. Then the US/UK stepped in and forced Ukraine to back out of the deal. We are living with the aftermath of that decision.

Please do not misunderstand me. I bear the (non-Nazi) Ukrainians no ill will, indeed they have my deepest sympathies. They are being used as cannon fodder by the US and the West, who are prepared to literally "fight to the last Ukrainian" in some criminally cynical attempt to "weaken Russia" (as DefSec Austin admitted last May).

So now the only solution is for Russia to demilitarise Ukraine not by negotiation, as was Putin\s original intent, but rather through annihilation of the Ukrainian military.

Senator Graham's sick fantasy of "fighting to the last Ukrainian" will have to come to pass, sadly.