It's supremely naive to think that Russia wants to fully subjugate Ukraine
You're splitting hairs, and basically putting up a strawman defense here.
Whether Russia intended to subjugate about 70 percent of Ukraine's territory (which by all indications was its initial goal at the outset, and probably still is), or 100 percent, is irrelevant to the main point under discussion.
Your words were that Russia "can eventually attrite Ukraine into a demographic death spiral", implying some sort of eventual decisive victory over Ukraine (as opposed to holding on to a few Oblasts).
The latter it might be able to do, but the former - no.
One would be stupid to think that Putin is interested in another Afghanistan.
He has already racked up 4x the total casualties of the Afghan occupation in just 2 years. We all know it isn't what he "wanted" but it's the situation he has created for himself, and his people, nonetheless.
You're splitting hairs, and basically putting up a strawman defense here.
Whether Russia intended to subjugate about 70 percent of Ukraine's territory (which by all indications was its initial goal at the outset, and probably still is), or 100 percent, is irrelevant to the main point under discussion.
Your words were that Russia "can eventually attrite Ukraine into a demographic death spiral", implying some sort of eventual decisive victory over Ukraine (as opposed to holding on to a few Oblasts).
The latter it might be able to do, but the former - no.
One would be stupid to think that Putin is interested in another Afghanistan.
He has already racked up 4x the total casualties of the Afghan occupation in just 2 years. We all know it isn't what he "wanted" but it's the situation he has created for himself, and his people, nonetheless.