Ukraine has been actively preparing for its attack on the Donbass all winter. There was a lot of talk about the possibility of a Russian invasion, but however, it turned out to be a complete surprise for Ukraine, NATO intelligence simply overslept it. The genius of Putin's strategy lies precisely in the fact that, according to the military canons current as of February 2022, it was technically impossible - too small forces participated in Russian military exercises near the border with Ukraine and NATO intelligence did not take this threat seriously. This gave Russia at the start of the operation the staggering advantage of a surprise strike from which Ukraine still seems to be in shock.
I'm not sure where did you got that Russian invasion become surprise for Ukraine, NATO and West. IIRC, few days before inavsion, USA intelligence warned that inavsion can begin at any moment, on 23th February state of emergency started in Ukraine. Though, Ukraine admitted that they didn't expected invasion in North, from Belarus side.And I'm not sure why you're saying about too small forces, when there was close ti 200k troops near to Ukrainian border.
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Putin’s famous long table, which has already become a meme, was used by him only for face-to-face dialogue with those politicians who refused to take a test for covid-19 to Putin’s doctors (apparently out of fear of giving Russia their DNA sample). This is a common precaution during a pandemic, if you have not forgotten about this word. Politicians who agree to and successfully pass this test are much closer to Putin, including direct physical contact through a handshake when appropriate.
And lonng table is in action again 
. This time in meeting with António Guterres.Though, Putin used long table in meetings with local officers too - Lavrov, Shoigu, Danilov and etc.
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You may be very surprised, but the Minister of Defense of Russia, General of the Army Shoigu, did not serve military service and does not have a military education. Perhaps his public appearance in civilian clothes means that the military operations of the Russian army in Ukraine are now rather led by General of the Army Alexander Dvornikov. Although Putin is still the supreme commander in chief, and Shoigu is still the minister of defense, of course. But Dvornikov seems to have a big operational carte blanche and he is the one who draws arrows on the map.
It's not surprise for me, I know this fact for a long time. And I'm still getting cognitive dissonance about it. How you can become army general without serving in army? And yeah, I read that now Butcher of Syria is one of the main persons in this war now.Quote
Mariupol is a show of force. The attackers' lack of numerical superiority, the use by Ukraine of dominant heights in urban development and civilians as a human shield - did not stop the Chechen assault battalions and the people's militia of Donbass. The city will be restored, with the exception of Azovstal.
If there is an order to clean up Nikolaev, Kharkov, Odessa, Lvov or Kyiv, they will do it again, now you know about it and all of Ukraine now knows and all of the World now knows. Russians fight not by numbers, but by skill, and for them there are no impossible combat missions.
So, Mariupol's infrastructure isn't good after all? But I used it just as most obvious example, there is lot of smaller cities with huge damage like Severodonetsk or Borodyanka.If there is an order to clean up Nikolaev, Kharkov, Odessa, Lvov or Kyiv, they will do it again, now you know about it and all of Ukraine now knows and all of the World now knows. Russians fight not by numbers, but by skill, and for them there are no impossible combat missions.
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You are right, a real civil war has been going on in Ukraine for 8 years, the genocide of the Russian-speaking population of Donbass. Russia is not at war, she came to stop it. I call a spade a spade.
And this ''civilian war'' was started by Russia 8 years ago. And what is genocide of Russian speaking Donbass population is still big mistery for me.