You’re spot on there. I think even the US war machine will stop its funding once not enough Russians are being killed. That was the whole point of provoking the war. To drain their manpower and resources with a long war. This counteroffensive seemed like it was their chance to take back territory and keep the war going. It failed really hard and I doubt they will be able to make another offensive this big. Russia will also soon have an offensive of their own with Ukraine now seemingly close to depleted. At that point the US will abandon them like all their other puppets who lost the proxy wars in the past.

Reminds me a lot of Guaido when he tried to stir an overthrow of Venezuela. It seemed like such a desperate move that had no chance of working but he was likely pressured to do so by the US since he wasn’t making any real gains in control of the government. After he failed, they gave up on stating he is the “real” Venezuelan president and moved on to their next target.