We are clearly exagerating the so-called Russian deficiencies when in reality, those are primarily the result of several restrictions, lack of understanding of local morale and assumptions of the early phase of the operation, for example the idea that civilian casualties could be avoided.
Add to this the prospect that the special operation can be acheived using the Syria op minded process of minimal forces applying maximum pressure (reports say a force of merely 200,000 including naval and support personnel against the second largest army in Europe), using legacy equipment mostly (we have yet to see Mi-28s being deployed, heck not even RuAF Su-24s seem to have been pressed over Ukraine).
The overall objectives still stand, which are to demilitarize Ukraine, destroy "Nazi" battalions and give even more creedence to the Donbass and Lughansk republics. So far, all those objectives are being consolidated, the more the Ukranian leadership props up delusional ideas of victory, the more the RF forces will gobble Ukraine, the leverage Kiev will have on its negotiations.
So in short, Putin's gamble is paying off, slowly but surely, despite the sanctions assaulting his country and people, but the end result look more and more like the invariable and permanent tilt of the geopolitical balance towards the East, which if true, would be yet another of the Kremlin's objectives.
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