Yeah, I think the megalomaniac assumed it would go exactly as it did 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea and the whole world basically said "well gee, that's not nice!"
It would honestly be fun to be a fly on the wall and see how angry Putin must be getting because NOTHING is going to his plan
Yup, exact opposite of what he wants. I'm sure he'll do a lot more sable rattling, and my guess is at the end of the day he'll withdraw and say that the whole operation was a success, and that they "crushed" the rebellion etc.