The Biden administration has actively been trying to provoke a shooting war with Russia to influence the coming election and/or provide an excuse to cancel the election. Ukraine is using weapons provided by the West and everyone knows that there are Western advisors and mercenaries embedded with the Ukrainian forces fighting against the Russian forces. IMVHO, Putin has been extremely patient in dealing with the mendacity (Merkel and the Minsk agreement) and aggressive behavior he has had to take from the U.S. and NATO. He could have totally destroyed Ukraine long ago, but refrained because of his concern for the common people of Ukraine whom he considers his brothers and fellow Slavic people. For many centuries, the area we call Ukraine today was simply a part of Imperial Russia. The Kyivan Rus' is an integral part of Russian history. He has sincerely tried to make peace, but the Western powers have taken advantage of this to tighten the noose around Russia's neck. They would like to cause the overthrow of the Russian government and they have designs on Russia's wealth and natural resources; however, there are powerful people in the Russian Federation who are not happy with Putin's patient approach and who will not hesitate to overthrow Putin and take decisive action if Putin will not deal severely with the Western powers for their audacity, treachery, attacks (such as in Kursk, the bridge to Crimea, and the Nordstream gas pipelines for example), and their threats of allowing the use of long-range missiles against the Russian interior. So, the West should not depend on Putin's sanity and patience to prevent a nuclear apocalypse. The Western powers need to be proactive and work wih Putin in preventing this disaster, which will be inevitable if they continue on their current insane course.