If anything I would say that the Russians bent over backward to NOT 'take Kiev' and to keep 'their president' among the living. Zelenski is the worst thing which every happened to Ukraine (or at least the worst thing for a long time) and consequently is a giant boon for the outcome of the special military operation that the Russians and the separatists are undertaking. And he's a gift which keeps on giving!
You do not quite understand the essence of the normal structure of the state and the role of the people, or you live in Russia
In Ukraine, power is not a sacred value, as, for example, in Russia, where even a crazy under-furrer can rule the country and everyone will worship him. In Ukraine, power is elected by the people, and if necessary, the people are removed, and even ahead of schedule
An example of this is 2014 and the cowardly thief Yanukovych. Having all the power and strength, he was still forced to cowardly flee to Russia.I am not a supporter of Zelensky, and I am sure that he will have to answer for many of the "unpleasant stories" that have occurred during his term since 2019.
Since, despite having the best resources and starting position out of all former soviet republics, Ukraine was still far worse economically than Russia,
only conclusion could be that people are generally stupid and didn't "elect power" properly
Wrong facts, wrong analysis, wrong conclusions - you are creating a personal brand on biasing informaiton.
The RF had better infrastructure, was more industrialised and was able to exert much more diplomatic and military influence than Ukraine. "elect power" is elect a government. It is much better than "take power", like Adolf Putin because if it does not work, you can vote to change it without killing anyone. Ukraine has a future beyond being a oil exporter (of oil that many would rather not buy).
In practice, Moscow rules for the Russians, precisely for the Russian Kleptocrats. Adolf Putin has no interest in developing Ukraine - for him this is just a buffer land from which to steal agricultural goods and use it to keep some burnable land between Moscow and Germany. There is not a case for Ukraine as a country wanting to be under the direction of the current RF government.
Edited to add: Ukraine is also in the path of the oil exports. How inconvenient.
Wrong...strange as it may seem, Putin is fighting for Germany too, to let them free from real scum, Anglosaxons