What if Putin did not mis-calculate?

I'm not sure I buy that for several reasons. If that was Putin's goal he could have taken those areas without destroying most of Ukraine and in the process paying a very heavy price. He's embarrassed himself and Russia, exiled himself from any future world leadership or influence, and cost his friends and country countless billions in sanctions not to mention totally wrecking the Russian economy which puts him at risk. In addition to all of that Putin has put Russia in a position where no democratic countries even want to buy their energy.

Also I do not believe Zelensky will ever agree to give him all the territory including ports that he wants. If he had just taken those areas he would have been at war for decades to hold them. As it is unless he withdraws he may be at war for decades anyway.

Idea just seems like a real stretch to me.

Based on the obscure philosopher he likes to quote, it seems like Putin really believes that restoring Greater Russia is his legacy. I think he really wants to restore Russia to it's former glory. He sees himself as Tsar Vladimir.

I think that's right. He and trump have a lot in common in the malignant narcissist department. And they both constantly lie except Putin's is calculated and trump's is pathological. But he definitely wants to go down in history as the father of the new USSR.

This guy makes the case that just taking the Donbas at this point is an unacceptable option for Putin, for two reasons.

1. The people of the region mostly don't want to be part of Russia and will be virtually impossible to govern with a VERY heavy hand.
2. At this point, Putin has set expectations much higher, and the hardliners in Russia will never accept a consolation prize.  It is very dangerous for Putin to accept anything except regime change in Ukraine.

Nothing except a Russian puppet state is an acceptable outcome and that seems very unlikely.   Putin has painted himself into a corner.  He might knock down the whole house to get out of the corner.  

It's a bit long, but an interesting read

You didn't look at the Encyclopedia of Ukraine?

The Donbas is rich in hard coal (particularly anthracites), rock salt, lignite, marl, limestone, clays and other building materials, mercury, and various ores.

The Donbas has one of the largest coal deposits in the world. The proved reserves of class A, B, and C coal were 55.6 billion t in 1977, or 20 percent of the total USSR reserves. The Ukrainian Donbas contained close to 48.1 billion t. In 2000, proved reserves were raised to 57.5 billion t and probable reserves for additional 18.3 billion t. Methane gas reserves associated with the coal deposits were estimated to exceed 2.5 trillion cubic meters.

Hard-coal deposits reach depths of 1,800 m. Almost 330 coal seams have been discovered, most of them 0.3–0.45 m, but some up to 1.5 m thick. Only the 210 top and middle seams, which lie up to 1,500 m beneath the surface, are thick enough to be worked economically, and only 65 seams are being mined today. The number of commercially exploited seams is declining in the east and north. In the Old Donbas coal is extracted to a depth of 1,000–1,300 m, and plans were made to dig shafts to a depth of 1,500 m. Mining conditions are complex: 95 percent of the mines have challenges with methane gas; 70 percent are prone to coal dust explosions; 45 percent have hazardous gas dynamics; and 30 percent are prone to spontaneous combustion of coal.

Various kinds of coal are found in the Donbas. In the central and southwest districts coking coal, which is the best fuel for metallurgy, occurs. It accounts for 26.5 percent of the coal deposits in the Ukrainian Donbas and 10 percent of the coal in the Russian part. In the northwestern part lies a belt of subbituminous, long-burning coal, which comprises 38 percent of the coal deposits and is used mainly in the chemical industry and partly for coking and fuel. Anthracites (30 percent of the deposits) are found in the central, eastern, and southeastern regions. They are used mostly as high-quality, energy-producing fuel, not for coking. The heating value of long-burning coal is 5,600–7,850 kcal/kg, and of anthracite, 7,600–8,800 kcal/kg. Donbas coal generally has a high ash (up to 30 percent) and sulfur (1.5–3.5 percent) content, which interferes with coking. The thinness of many seams makes them unexploitable.

Of the other useful minerals, the huge deposits of rock salt in the northwestern Donbas in the Bakhmutka River valley (Bakhmut with proved reserves of 5.4 billion t [see Bakhmut rock salt deposits] and Sloviansk with reserves of 3.5 billion) and the Kalmiius River and Torets River valleys are of the greatest value. Near Mykytivka are deposits of quicksilver ore-cinnabar (see Mykytivka mercury deposit), which are largely exhausted now. Mercury and antimony ores have been discovered more recently in the vicinity of Sloviansk and Druzhkivka. Various ores such as zinc and lead, with an admixture of copper, silver, and gold, are found near Sloviansk, Bakhmut, and in the region of Naholnyi Ridge but have not yet been exploited. Rare earth elements are found in the south (Pokrovka–Kyriivka, Petrovo–Hnutove). From the 18th century to the beginning of the 20th the small deposits of poor iron ores (brown ores and siderites) were worked in the northwestern Donbas and near Bakhmut. In the northwestern Donbas near Sloviansk lignite was discovered, and in the north natural gas is found at Lobachivka and Kondrashivka deposits. Both resources remain unexploited.

Building materials are common throughout the Donbas: limestone, dolomite, gypsum, refractory clays, marl, quartz sands, sandstones (particularly gray and black for paving streets), quartzites, chalk, slates, and pottery clay. Some of these are also used in the metallurgical industry. Limestones are used in the chemical industry and metallurgical industry; the main deposits are at Olenivka (Dokuchaievsk) (see Olenivka flux limestone deposit) and Karakuba (Rozdolne). Large marl deposits at Amvrosiivka and in the southern Donbas and smaller deposits along the Luhanka River are the basis of the cement industry. Rich deposits of refractory clays are located in the central Donbas, Chasiv Yar being the best-known deposit. Gypsum is found alongside rock salt in the Bakhmutka River valley, chalk along the Donets River, colored clays in Sloviansk raion, ocher deposits near Izium, kaolin near Volnovakha in the southwest, and quarried stone in Bakhmut.

Here's a rebuttal to Stephens:

www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23003689/putin-ukraine-russia-donbas-energy-feint