Putin didn't (and still doesn't) want to call this a "war", so he didn't commit the bulk of the Russian air force to the war.He and the Russian military leadership incorrectly assumed that Ukraine would fold like a lawn chair to supposedly superior Russian military forces. Instead what we found out was that Ukraine was far stronger than Russia thought, and Russia was far weaker than what everybody thought, including Russia. Lack of discipline, lack of maintenance, forced conscription, lack of a dedicated NCO corps, lack of secure communications, horrible corruption (I read many Kontakt-5 ERA tiles and personal body armor panels were filled with cardboard or other useless fillers), lack of basic modern warfare tactics/strategy, and most of all lack of logistical support, are all making Putin and Russia look like a bunch of schoolyard flunkies trying to play war but getting their asses handed to them one ATGM team at a time.
Now Putin has to lie and pretend that instead of decapitating Kyiv and submitting the entirety of Ukraine, his main objective the entire time was to control the Donbas (which he essentially almost does already). And he will declare "victory" on May 9th whether or not he actually won anything.
