Does Putin think he is winning his overall global strategy?

Putin has never been a one for narrow strategic thinking. So the invasion of Ukraine was not just about taking over a neighbour before it ended up in the hands of the hated Nato alliance and the dominating United States of America. It was also about putting Russia back in its rightful place, in his view, as a world player confronting the US, strategically, diplomatically and, crucially, ideologically. Putin has always had a grand vision. Ever since Mikhail Gorbachov caused the Warsaw Pact to collapse and the Soviet empire to wither away, he was determined to return the Russian Motherland to greatness. The invasion of Ukraine was all part of that and even though his army in Ukraine has failed abysmally, Putin is still making strides to ruin Europe's economies, deprive European homes of energy, force divisions in the western alliance and generally make everyone in the West fear him. The threat to use nuclear weapons is very much a key part of his plan to scare the West and keep the whole world guessing. In that sense he is winning his strategic plan and if western leaders don't see that and believe that Putin's defeats in Ukraine are proof that he is losing and that Russia is finished as a nation, then they should think again.