Good points. However, I’d suggest the issue is not all or nothing about losses. But a small percentage difference from our culture’s views.
Somebody, maybe me, made a point early on that Russia’s history of being invaded might make it a bit easier to sell invading a neighbor as a necessary defensive move in Russia than in the US. Or western Europe. Not 100%. But possibly not trivial, either. Same would be the case about losses. Not for the Next of Kin, but for the population in general.
See also Victor Hanson’s “The Russian Way of War”.

From the end of WWII to the beginning of the Ukraine war – a not inconsiderable period of 69 years – Russia suffered barely half the war fatalities that the US took in Vietnam alone. Maybe the Russian people like it that way, not that they have a lot of influence on the government as a few have pointed out.

I’m sure if you polled Russians if they’d like to have Ukraine back in the fold you’d get 90% or more. But that’s not the same as wanting to die for it. It’s not WWII when they were invaded by a rogue tyrant openly determined to enslave them.

The average age of Russian soldiers killed in 2020 was 30, and now it’s closer to 38. The more young people killed in Ukraine, the worse Russian demographics get in ten years. (Ukraine of course has the same problem and that’s why young men have been exempted from conscription.)

Even if the “next Hitler” card hadn’t been maxed out in 2003 and never paid off, even if Russia weren’t taking nearly as long to conquer part of Ukraine than WWII from Barbarossa to the surrender of Germany, Russia is not conquering an empire of any kind anywhere; they can’t afford to outfit enough mobility scooters.

I don’t know about war but what I read in books, and I’m guessing I have no sound intuition about how war works in 2025, not only because of the changes in technology, but because we now live in a world with very different demographics than the past. In WWI and WWII European populations were much younger and growing. I don’t think any intuitions we have developed from wars in the past make much sense any longer.

Oil revenue made the invasion possible as well as putins contempt for biden as with obama

For more than 50 years there were promises to liberate cuba when the wandering coma sloughed off his mortal coil crickets btw the same european powers who cry ‘ukrainia slava’ were the one who bailed out fidel in the 90s not surprising who designed the eu they also groveled to arafat and now hamas

The ‘good oligarchs’ like khodokorsky and the late berezovsky were the ones that made average russians look down on democracy because they associated it with chaos and penury

That was the fruit of sachs and summers why they should be shunned everywhere

Since when do Russian governments give a shite about the well being of Russians?
Putin and his govt officials will still live high on the hog no matter how bad Russian citizens suffer economically.
The sanctions may have the average Ivan and Olga suffering, but the Russian leaders will do just fine.
And if some of the people begin protesting against Putin, there will be an epidemic of people falling off tall building balconies.

As for Russian military deaths; since when does any Russian govt. give a crap about how many dead Russian soldiers it will take to prevail in a conflict?
The Russian govt. does not care and they never have.

As for sanctions Putin can always count on China, Iran and probably a few other countries to help him out.

And Europe is STILL !!!! importing about 20% of its natural gas from Russia.

As for Putin’s ultimate goal recall his comment that the worst thing that ever happened to Russia was the dissolution of the USSR. Not that this means he wishes to reconstitute the USSR – it doesn’t – but nobody knows what his real goals are.

Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland and Sweden have joined NATO because they really believe Russia / Putin represents an existential threat to their independence. And Poland – also in NATO – is re-arming and will have the strongest military in Europe.
The actions of these nations – joining NATO and/or re-arming – suggest that Putin’s actions / goals will continue to be aggressive and contradict the notion that Putin only wishes to have secure borders.
These NATO nations have lived with the Russian bullies for a thousand years and they know better than anybody what Russia’s goals really are.

Putin is a real bad apple and cannot be trusted at all; that is the message being conveyed by those nations near or bordering Russia.

By the way, check out how many former members of the Eastern Bloc and former USSR republics have joined NATO since 1991.
Geez, now why would they have done that???