The difference has been addressed. It’s a fake war. We’ll be proven right, soon:
That's not entirely accurate
The opposite. Ukraine isn't culturally or religiously distinct enough from Russia to sustain an insurgency. Once Putin is dug in militarily, in about another 3 days, he'll social engineer compliance. They'll be absorbed with minimal resistance.
Pro Russian areas in Ukraine were annexed in 2014 (Crimea and rebel areas like Donbas) The rest of Ukraine is pretty spilt. Can't trust the polling numbers entirely but the majority of the rest of Ukraine were anti Russia/Putin.
The question for me isn't is this a fake war or not. This was a calculated invasion, but did Putin miscalculate and assume the rest of Ukraine would welcome him with open arms and flowers?
It would explain why he sent a under equipped and poorly trained army. It would also explain why he didn't just steam roll through Ukraine because he didn't want to be seen as a conqueror, he wanted to be liberator. The longer the fighting goes on the more likely this is a miscalculation on Putins part.