> What I'm wondering, with Russia being a nuclear power, what is Ukraine's end game?
As with all asymmetrical warfare against invasion and occupation, bleed the invader until the price exceeds what they are willing to pay.
> then Russia could just unload a few nukes on them and be done with it.
That would probably be terminal for the Russian regime.
> The West seems intent on not getting involved, and if they won't risk conflict now due to mutually assured destruction, they won't risk it after Russia uses nukes on Ukraine either
Nuking Ukraine over conventional escalation against invasion lowers the expected marginal cost of NATO involvement.
Deterrence calculus relies as much on confidence that not crossing conventionally understood escalation triggers will not provoke the response one hopes to avoid as on the confidence that crossing them will.
> Is getting the Russian military to turn on Putin the only hope
The collapse of will to fight and support the war, whether in the troops or the public, is
always the ultimate constraint on war, whether the leadership drives to actual collapse or stops in advance because they see it coming.
As with all asymmetrical warfare against invasion and occupation, bleed the invader until the price exceeds what they are willing to pay.
> then Russia could just unload a few nukes on them and be done with it.
That would probably be terminal for the Russian regime.
> The West seems intent on not getting involved, and if they won't risk conflict now due to mutually assured destruction, they won't risk it after Russia uses nukes on Ukraine either
Nuking Ukraine over conventional escalation against invasion lowers the expected marginal cost of NATO involvement.
Deterrence calculus relies as much on confidence that not crossing conventionally understood escalation triggers will not provoke the response one hopes to avoid as on the confidence that crossing them will.
> Is getting the Russian military to turn on Putin the only hope
The collapse of will to fight and support the war, whether in the troops or the public, is always the ultimate constraint on war, whether the leadership drives to actual collapse or stops in advance because they see it coming.