Somewhat agree with the cannon fodder part. Thousands (if not tens of thousands) of Russian soldiers have died (not including thousands of casualties from DNR/LNR militia and from PMC Wagner). And most of the deaths are from impoverished Russian provinces such as Buryatia, Tuva, Daghestan and Ossetia. I hardly heard about any military deaths from Moscow or Samara or Nizhny Novgorod. But then, they have also managed to seize a huge tract of territory in South and East Ukraine (in addition to what they seized in 2014).
Regardless of who is wining or losing in this war, its impact is felt by the whole world. The country where I am living now is at verge of economics collapse because of this war. I am not following this war but one thing is very clear that Russia is struck there and they need a safe exit, may be U.N can jump in to end this war.