This is the prism through which the entire war has been viewed, and it's the reason why you can perversely describe this war as a success for the West even as large swaths of Ukraine are smoldering and many Ukrainians are dead/displaced/ruined forever.

What a strange kind of ally the West has been to Ukraine, as it seems the US State Dept hates Russia so much more than it loves Ukraine, it's willing to bleed and burn Ukraine to give Putin a hangnail.

If the west has much more of this kind of success, all of Europe will be a cinder - just so long as Putin stubs his toe. Yay?