I am surprised that this has lasted as long as it has, but then again, maybe not.
Putain has staked his reputation on this invasion and he is not the type of person to admit he made a major fuck up of judgment. Likewise, the stooges around him aren't willing to get rid of one person to save their country.
Foreign Affairs has an article by Alexander Vindman and Dominic Cruz Bustillos where he mentions an "unprecedented response" to this, but the west has been pretty tepid in how it has handled this. Also, this is War in the 21st Century where a madman can destroy the world, or at least make things very bad for anyone who survives, through nuclear war.
The Ukrainians are pretty good at handling the situation since they have been practicing asymetrical warefare for a while. As I pointed out, Ukraine was the only Soviet State which had an active resistance. They could use some augmentation since they have pretty much activated any males into the "army". But the US has been sending in "contractors" for a while. Private contractors are better than active service military because of the deniability factor.
Likewise, Putain's support comes from the Oligarchs. Many of them have places in the west. I've heard Putain's daughter is in the west. Hit them in the pocketbook where it will hurt the most.
Sadly, Russia is the Soviet Union with a change to become more transparent in that it was an Oligarchy the whole time. Not much has changed. An officer from the KGB is in charge, but he's scared and knows he's wrong. But any admission of his making a mistake will hasten his being deposed.
As Kasperov said, significant actions are what matter now. There are many things the west can do short of actual "boots on the ground" and they need to be taken.
