Soldiers in DPR forces were saying that Russia would take Kiev, while even Russian communists said at most they’d take the full claimed territory of the Donbas republics. I tended to believe the latter over the former but always understood that not everything DPR folks were saying was bullshit propaganda.

Either way, it has nothing to do with the willingness of the western Bourgeoisie to completely annihilate society and relegate themselves to a life underground in luxury bunkers. There was never a chance that invading Ukraine would result in global annihilation. War between NATO and Russia would though, because it’s an existential threat to Russia.

to be fair so did British diplomats and other people who personally know Putin in this capacity