He seems to be labouring under the misapprehension that Putin would tolerate a prosperous de-Russified Ukraine. He must never have read any of Putin’s speeches about the glory of the USSR and how it was a mistake to allow Ukraine to be separated from Russia. A vassal state like Belarus is what they wanted but their decapitation attack failed. Now they’re stuck in a quagmire with no clear end in sight. So much for a master strategist