It's for sure that Putin has no intention of largely holding Ukraine. Putin just wants to make sure that Ukraine stays away from NATO and Russia can supply gas to Europe without any transit fees. If he really wants to do something like he has done with Crimea then we could see Kyiv been pounded by thousands of missiles already. RF trying to keep civilian casualties as low as possible but still unwanted incidents happen in the war zone.
NATO was formed in order to collectively defend against Russia. Before the invasion, there was no realistic chance that Ukraine was going to join NATO. Provided that Ukraine is not occupied by Russia, it will be pushed to join NATO after the war is over.
The Russian invasion is Ukraine is likely to result in Russia being unable to supply gas to Europe, as Europe will be unwilling to buy Russian gas over the long term.
Not only that. More importantly, what this invasion did to Ukraine is to culturally separate her from Russian culture, or more precisely from Soviet imperialism. It united Ukrainians of all ethnic and religious denominations, it crystalized Ukraine as a nation.
After this war, there will be a clear distinction between a Ukrainian Russian speaker and a Russian speaker in Russia, in how they view the world,
what human values they revere.
Ukraine will undergo ethnic cleansing in more than one way. It is a spiritual awakening of Ukraine as a nation.
There will be no reconciliation with Russia after this war.
This war will separate good from evil. Homo Sapiens on the left, Homo Soviticus on the right.