@Bobko
I appreciate your wanting to believe in your country. I think about the USA and what it used to be every year on 9-11. Our nostalgic thoughts and beliefs though imply no longer represent the truths of either country or the direction either country is taking. Russia will not take Kharkov or Odessa. They may throw missiles at them, but they will not take them or occupy them fully or temporarily. Russia, its army, is on the fast track to liquidation. From the top down it will be torn down before it ever becomes a power again. All the Generals being fired is just a sign of what is to come.
Xi meeting with Putin is probably going to deliver suggestions that an exit from this war be found. Xi while wanting to rule the world and create a new world order, is having a lot of trouble at home with his economy and can not help Putin the way Putin needs. Yet Xi needs to keep Russia as a partner, and Russia without China is truly an absolutely dead country.
The real enemy to Russia is the one Putin will shake hands with today. China with a completely weak Russia could exert very strong influence on the next Russian leader. China is the one who could sweep in to Siberia and do a number of things to benefit itself. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
Once again though Russia shows they really do not want Ukraine, they just want to destroy it. Bombing a dam and flooding a city is just the latest in its string of civilian infrastructure attacks. This is the bully throwing rocks while he is running away at the kid who just punched him in the jaw. Happy gulag biatches!