What started as “we defend these 6 million people, including over 2 million Russians, from an unjustified act of aggression” turned to “we deny 40 million people independence and statehood, and we’re ready to destroy everything to have it our way”.

you say this like russia has already annexed the whole of ukraine. you cannot be certain of what russia wants until a peace deal is signed. and more accurately, the war was started by the west, and the west benefits most from the continuance of the war. in fact, the ukrainians would have a higher standard of living under russia simply because the west has made ukraine so in debt that the taxes on locals have been onerous, ukraine has been depopulating since. and fun fact, the creditor debt holiday ends in 2027 which will force ukraine to begin paying lavish amounts to the west. we'll see how long the war continues...