Ukraine/Russia Conflict: What Is the End Goal?

On February 24th 2022, The Russian Federation Invaded Ukraine. For months the world had been keeping a close eye on the region, watching as thousands of russian soldiers gathered on the borders with Ukraine. At the same time, Ukrainan prseident Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been calling for the west to take action to protect Ukraine and to stop Vladimir Putin from ordering an invasion.

At the time of writing, Ukraine has not fallen (3/4/2022), but conflicting reports on death tolls offer a grim reality of what full on armed conflict does to personnel from both sides and the civilian population.

When thinking about why Putin ordered the invasion many factors come to mind. The obvious one being, that he did not like the idea of Ukraine being in NATO and closer to the west, but I am of the thought that Ukraine is seen as a strategic target for Putin. By controlling Ukriane, not only will he solidify his control of crimea, but it will increase Russia's access to the black sea and an all year warm water port.

I do wonder what is Putin's ultimate objective. I have a hard time believing that he will stop his assault on ukraine any time soon. Justifying the sheer number of russian casualties to the public with anything short of victory will be a nightmare for Putin, it could even signal the end of his regime.

What do you think Putin's end goal is?