they could end the war overnight if they chose to? Instead they want to escalate.

In your propaganda world, Russia is always the side escalating. Russia is the side that wants peace. Ukraine is the side that wants to embezzle aid to the last Ukrainian, and are the actual side that escalates, and calls Russia’s retaliation an escalation. Just pure propaganda recitement, that comes from media that wants this war to continue. Pretending you might not be a hateful nazi supporter for a moment, you should question your trust in that media. War is not good for the simpletons.