They have air superiority since the start of the conflict and can strike Ukrainian positions with near impunity. With Ukrainian populations depleted, there is no round 2, only where Russia decides to stop pushing.It might make sense to stop now because although Russia has stopped losing to Ukraine, its still too weak to conquer more Ukrainian lands via big offensives. Russia lacks Air Superiority over Ukraine and thus has been unable to bomb Ukraine to submission. Their only option then is to take land slowly backed by artillery. Ukraine can also slow down russian advance using mines, drones and other defensive tactics.
All far ahead hypothetics.The way current technological makeup works, Russia needs to mobilize several million soldiers to fully takeover Ukraine and may have to take millions of casualties to achieve it. War could get more and more unpopular in Russia as more soldiers die in a grinding war of attrition. So, there are risks for Putin to keep fighting. This is what I mean by exhaustion. The Russian public could get exhausted by war and they might revolt, foment a coup or do something else.
What exactly does Russia need to rebuild? They've lost less people than US did in Vietnam, and far less materiel (where for example US lost 5000+ helicopters alone to allied forces). US didn't exactly need to rebuild post Vietnam.War exhaustion is real and even the most authoritarian governments may not stop it. Even the most nationalistic public can get tired of War and choose to topple their government even if it means humiliation.
This is what happened to both Germany and Russia in WW1. Both extremely nationalistic governments.
But again, as I said before, stopping rebuilding also have risks, since round 2 will be determined by who will rebuild better and faster. Russia or Ukraine backed by the West.
He's not lol. They've gone on record saying that they're not gonna negotiate with Ukraine anymore.So, although continuing to fight is the current approach, but Putin is probably still looking to take a break if conditions are right as well. Both options have risks and rewards.
Push continues until either NATO sends so many troops/support they can stall it, or until Russia is done.