Putin has called for an end to the war several times. The Donbas region has voted to be annexed by Russia. The only people who still want war is NATO and the Ukrainians. Russia has been winning and can continue to fund the war more efficiently than the US and Europe because their debt to GDP ratio is lower and they have several times the gold reserves backing their currency. The Ruble is actually UP since the start of the war and Russia has not been impacted by inflation like the rest of the world has.

I'm not a fan of Putin, but from his point of view he is only defending the people who call themselves Russians. The United States backed coup in 2014 tells you all you need to know about who runs Europe (it's not the Europeans!) The economics tell a story that the newspapers won't. The war in Ukraine is about the collapse of the petrodollar and is just the beginning of a currency war that is about to take place. We are being lied to.