I believe the Russians are using modern 3rd generation maneuver warfare, as a way to prevent the outbreak of 4th generation warfare, and further legitimize Russian actions. The Russians are willing to accept greater casualties than Ukraine, in order to give them the legitimacy over the current Ukrainian government. This is why we have seen so little loss of life and why the Russians haven't engaged the full body of the Ukrainian army. Splitting it into pockets of 300-500 men, so they can each surrender to the Russians after a short fight, where very few people are hurt, but the Ukrainians can feel respected and that they fought.
Best outcome now is for the Ukrainian government to surrender to the Russians and order the Ukrainian army to surrender as well. There will be no recriminations from the Russians, no harming of civilizations. The actions of the Russians will be positive, bringing in massive aid to Ukraine to help them recover and enforce order within Ukraine. This isn't about the Russians are nice or good, but because they are very capable and they understand 4th generation warfare and they want to prevent it. The attempts by foreign powers and the current Ukraine government to cause 4GW to break out will fail because they have no legitimacy given the Russian actions.
I understand this understanding runs counter to every military doctrine in the west, which is all about lethality and fire powerful, however if the Russians are successful it means there is a chance for modern states to survive and not be destroyed by 4GW. So literally the future of civilization rests of the Russians being successful and proving correct the concept of 4GW and how to combat it successfully. The Turks could learn a lot from this as well, if they study it and get the correct outcomes from it. As they are going to be moving into 4GW area's in the next decade which they have already been defeated in. I also view this as being a lesson in having an air force, what people took from the Armenia war was wrong, it isn't that drones are be the thing now, its rather that you need an air force to defend your airspace and positions, air defences don't cut it. This war is also proving this too.