I know no one here is part of the Russian government, so I’m not expecting concrete answers here.
What I’m asking is simply what will happen if [well, when, at this point] The Ukraine ends up…falling, per se?
That’s a question in of itself really. Will Ukraine fight until the AFU collapses? Will there be a coup? Would a pro russian or neutral ukraine be established across all of what is currently the Ukraine, or will there be an attempt to make a “taiwan-ified” state in the west?
I think the most likely scenario is that Ukraine will be partitioned between Russia and the EU, with a large neutral/demilitarized zone in between.
Russia doesn’t want anything to do with Western Ukraine. In fact, allowing a fascist Ukrainian rump state to (try to) join the EU would be a great destabilizing force for NATO.