who was ukraine fighting since 2014? they were doing ethnic cleansing in the donbas and luhansk. you're talking as if they were already in a protracted war or some shit. after the maidan coup ukraine started receiving cia training and money. so if anything they should have been better prepared. yes, russia annexed crimea, but the extent of the conflict wasn't big enough to weaken ukraine after a prolonged battle or some shit. in 2022 ukraine was way better positioned for a war than in 2014. what was once fringe fascist groups with guns became a full fledged white supremacist battalion with proper military training and financing, the ethnic cleansing in the oblasts were the military training they needed in order to achieve this, it made them stronger, not weaker.
on top of this, it's more beneficial for russia to keep a protracted war with the us puppet state since this is what has been depleting us ammo and gear, which has been very beneficial for palestine, iran and yemen.