The more it goes, the more there will be pressure on the Russian forces to divert their resources there. It seems to be a relatively cheap way for Ukraine to alter the whole battlefield, fighting where they are stronger.

Thing is, Russia can just trade land for people.

Ukraine can’t really threaten Russia as a whole, and the further Ukraine gets, the thinner and more vulnerable the supply lines will be. So the whole thing will eventually run out of steam and Russia can try to grind its territory back under its control.

Of course it’s annoying and embarrassing for Putin, but letting it just fizzle out is definitely within his MO.

Yeah but the time is ticking now for the lost Russian territory, so they can try and make that more expensive :)

What is ticking? Putin doesn’t care for either population or territory in the short term. There’s nothing of value there, only the lost ability to bomb ukranian territory from Russia in that region.

And the embarrassment can be handled by his propaganda machine.