“we have to recognize that we’re battling a very powerful adversary...”
LOLOLOL. If they think Ukraine is “very powerful” they better hope Putin never picks a fight with a real power.
This is sad for Russia.
If Putin had been less egotistical and kept the Russian army just fighting Islamic state, and using salami tactics on Ukraine, all would have worked for Russia.
This is exactly like the 1850s crimean war — Russia’s “best enemies” are to the south-east and interference in the Islamic world. They lose badly when they face off against the west.
Russian tactics since 2000 should have been to build economically, become less corrupt, use that money to diversify its economy, give a better quality of life to its people (and not let it all go to super-yachts for the oligarchy) and use its military decisively to build up power - so Syria, etc. and also slice Ukraine slice by slice.