I'm going to put on my tin foil hat for just a moment...
Why hasn't Russia used their front line equipment yet, especially those T-14 Armata tanks they are so proud of? Are they being held in reserve for something bigger?
Have they used this war with Ukraine just to get some urban warfare experience? Something they plan to use later may be in the Baltic states and/ or Poland?
Are they using this war to try out some of their weapons systems in a urban warfare environment? It could be argued that we did the same in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Are they testing some of their older but updated tanks to see how our latest anti-tank weapons systems work and perhaps develop defensive methods of systems against those weapons?
History has proven that the Russians don't mind losing their own soldiers in order to meet their objectives. There just seems to be a lot more to this story than what we hear.
Here in America, factories are running low or running out of raw materials, stores are getting low on groceries, crime is rampant and getting worse, people don't seem to care whether they have a job or not... As bad as it is, I suspect the same "81 million" will vote for status quo... Cause they like it.
Now, I'll take that hat back off...