> No, Russia is clearly pushing for the eradication of the Ukrainian nation and, as a longer term goal, the re-establishment of the Soviet Union in one form or the other (this means invading and destroying other countries).

This is pure speculation. And as far as I can tell, Russia, while obviously fighting a deplorable aggressive war, has not occupied territory outside of the fairly old parts of Russia, Novorossiya and Malorossyia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novorossiya

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Russia

Western parts of Ukraine have a quite different history, and is not historically nor population-wise as connected to Russia as the Malorossyia and Novorossiya.

Also nobody is dying for cheap energy. You want to stop people dying for dumb reasons, then stop the war and negotiate peace. I don't think the average citizen is going to experience much difference in quality of life, being ruled by a Russian oligarch or an Ukrainian oligarch.