I can see your way of thinking,but I dont think it will come to the mass destruction that it appears could be....the Ukranian Military is way out numbered by the Russian forces..Putin may win this armed conflict if:
1) He commits to house to house fight, he has to be prepared to heavy casualties, or he may use Chechens, Syrians etc. as the cannon fodder ;
2) He disregards the Geneva convention and indiscriminately uses weapons of the mass destruction on populated areas - e.g. thermobaric bombs, and destroys cities, and kills civilians on mass. He may use the old Roman "destroy completely a smaller village, the larger one will surrender"
3) combination of 1) and 2)
I see it more as a capitulation from their military....
Its was interesting to note,just on a different tangent for the minute...Nato has been mentioned on here heaps...I did a little research and found that it was formed after ww2 it grew bigger when the Warsaw pact was created...the Warsaw Pact was disassembled after talks with the powers that be and Nato also would be,however the Nato forces only got bigger and didnt do as they promised and also disassemble..
Theres probably much more to it than that and I will do more research...