It's the move of cowards terrified of dying. Thats 100% why anyone would do it despite the propaganda loss doing it entails. The very fact they chose to hide behind citizens *knowing* how that looks, tells you it's because they are scared and bluffing. They're using human shields because their "stock to flow" of troops is *too low even to survive* without russian mercy to sustain them. To hold the territory, russian will have to do things that will likely *alienate* the territory. This is the breaking point for russia's strategy. The u.s. is desperate and now pulling out all the stops. If russia calls the bluff and bombs battalions using human shields, it will send the *unequivocal* message to the u.s. and Zalansky that "russia is prepared to USE EVERY WEAPON in its arsenal. To do anything, anything necessary, to win, regardless of the cost." He will back down, because like his men, he is a coward and an actor. The ukrainians citizens seeing the death of their own will realise one of two things: "Russians are the ultimate evil" (which, if the war goes on long enough, the propaganda will cause them to believe anyway) or "if we are gonna be forced to die t the hands of azov who use us as human shields, we might as well kill azov and zelensky ourselves!" If I ran Russia's military, I would simultenously also start to drop food and medicine for Ukrainian citizens, and elevate a few Russian soldiers, not for their ruthlessness, but ones that showed mercy or restraint. The victory is the merger of the contradictory narratives of *utter ruthlessness* with *a just and limited war*. Zelensky knows what the game on the ground is anyway, so it doesn't matter what he thinks. Likewise the u.s. which already had it in for russia. Even if Russia backs off now, the u.s. has seen this as the ultimate proof that Russia and China *are* a threat, and will now move to quickly destroy both. Their only hopes for survival is to nail ukraine's leadership to the wall, like christ driving out demons into a herd of swine. The oligarchs are fleeing to israel not out of fear of their assets being taken, but because they expect and are likely demanding behind close doors tht the u.s. move to prepare for a full all-out war against Russia. Beijing has concluded the same, which is why they are now siding with russia while at the same time playing tight-lipped and trying to lightly project *slight* neutrality. The u.s. is still bluffing on this, but if the regime realizes that this war is now a referendum on its credibility and by extension, the dollar, it will take us to war none-the-less. I think there is a good probability that the outcome no one wants (full war) will play out, and if not, a failure of the dollar. In the latter case, where world war 3 doesn't happen, this is seen as a bellweather that the u.s. no longer has the military might to enforce dollar status. In the former case, full war, it happens anyway, because currency won't matter in a world war. I'll put the probability of a world war AND/OR global economic super-depression from a failed dollar (inflation at 10-15% annually) at 60-70% within the next 18-24 months.