The West was startled by the fact that the Ukrainians were able to rout the Russians. Most Western analysts expected Russian to win in the event of an invasion and Zelenskyy pleaded with Putin not to invade the night prior.

That Russia took almost 3 years and a presumed 300-500k casualties to begin deploying basic air support with guided glide bombs, like the west has been doing for 25 years, was indeed surprising.

Every military has the ability to innovate and adapt because the life of every member of the military is on the line each day. It took an astounding number of embarrassments and lives lost for the Russian military to adapt, including a near coup by PMC Wagner.