I think there is still a chance that there will not be regime change in Kyiv.

Steven Horrell

I think Russia has for some time held the opinion that the West, the U.S. [ and ] NATO have a very low tolerance for cost and for pain, and, conversely, that Russia as a much higher cost acceptance.

A ship in the Black Sea with the Kalibr land attack cruise missile could reach Berlin, if they viewed one of the European capitals as being a weakness in NATO, they could do that sort of escalation, non-nuclear, but they could strike outside the immediate theater of conflict and start hitting native targets.

I think the decision makers in the Kremlin truly believed some of their own press reports and expected a quick and hasty victory.

There is more of an expectation of weakness on the part of Zelenskyy and other leaders.