All that media warfare is part of their doctrine and in order to understand them you have to pay close attention. Its scare tactics and also to make sure they come out looking good. 1. The one thing they don't want here is an invasion of Ukraine as they stand to lose massive here make no mistake.. This will be monterously huge loss 2. If Ukraine is battered and defeated their power will wane in Europe and Internationally whereas Russia will have an opposite effect which means a metric rise 3. They are not sure whether Russia is going in or not yet but they wanna pressure them enough to give up using media scare tactics mix of repeating they will invade and coupled with sanction threats and so far Russia has not taken the bluff but some their ofsupporters are cracking under this media tactics 4. The Western media warfare is extremely gamed and advanced in mind games and pressure tactics.. But make no mistake an invasion would absolutely ruin them whereas it would elevate Putin and Russia into a ridculous metric rise if he dispatches Ukraine in front of the whole world because this is the social media age and will have massive psychological effect around the world.. Russia will emerge powerful including feared and admiration but the US or NATO don't want this scenario ever hence the scare tactics.. It's like interrupting a stalking leopard by shouting repeatedly his gonna bounce before he bounces and giving away his stalking in order to discourage the chase before it starts hence you want him to reset and go back to the drawing line hence if Russia backs down they will come out weakened. This is a game of chess with extremely high stakes this is dog eat dog. Eastern Europe NATO could dissolve as consequence by leaving the alliance in favour of RussiaAll of which is very true.
The trouble though is that it assumes that the other side are playing it straight
What happens if the US claims that Russia is invading and starts to impose penalties as it if were, even if it actually is not?
What if the Ukrainian forces start fighting the Donbass militia and claim they are fighting the Russian army?
That actually is a stated and legitimate trigger for actual Russian intervention and so it would all rebound on Russia if they fail to respond.
What does have Russia to gain indeed?
What also does the US have to lose?