The reason the SMO is taking so long is because the objectives are much broader than almost everyone realizes. Most people think it's just about neutralizing the Ukraine and removing that particular threat to Russian security, that's the officially stated goals of the war. And it would've stayed that way if NATO hadn't gotten involved as much as it did. However, once NATO committed to the war the objectives changed for Russia, they now intend to neutralize Europe and remove it as a threat as well which is why the SMO is taking as long as it is.
Russia is also waging an economic & social war against Europe using Ukraine as a proxy. Every day the war continues, more arms and money are drained from Europe and funnelled into the Ukraine for destruction. The economic sanctions are also fucking up the EU economy and de-industrializing Germany, France, and all the other major EU powers, the longer the war goes on the less industry Europe will have and this kills their ability to re-arm. It's also causing a lot of social unrest across Europe, the people are starting to get sick of rising living costs & unemployment and it doesn't help that social benefits are also getting cut to fund the war. Add in millions of Ukrainian refugees sucking more money out of their budgets and that's a recipe for some serious resentment. Give it another couple years and there won't be enough social cohesion left to start a war against Russia even if the European leaders want to do so.
And finally there's the US. Russia & China have figured out that they can probably do the same thing to the US that they're doing to Europe IF, and that's a big if, they play their cards right. They don't want the US completely defeated since that's likely not possible and will leave a power vacuum, but they are looking for ways to knock the US back down to a regional power instead of global one. China's already started the economic war with their export bans along with moving their trade away from the US. They've also started taking over international commerce and moving trade away from US dollars and into Yuans, Rubles, Reals, and other local currencies. The US is being economically weakened while having to deal with increasing tensions & social unrest at home, this trend will continue since the political leaders are too fucking stupid to figure out what's going on let alone do anything about it.
Bottom line - Ukraine war is a piece of a much bigger puzzle. It's a large & important piece, but it's still only a piece. If the goal was simply to destroy & conquer the Ukraine, it would've been over long ago. The full goal is a complete realignment of global powers & areas of influence, that's gonna take a while and will continue long after the SMO in Ukraine is over.
