Yeah so this is what always frustrated me about the Russian strategy. The priority should have been the destruction of the Ukrainian army in the Donbas. Achieving that objective in a reasonable timeframe would require vastly more troops than the Russians devoted to the eastern front. If they did go after Kiev as a gigantic diversion to throw off the Ukrainians, then it doesn't look like they succeeded. And the stiff Ukrainian resistance on the eastern front is proof of that. Had they actually thrown 100,000 troops in a major push across a broad front in the east, they would already have the Donbas by now.
