The Kiev regime could always surrender.

If Russia wanted to kill Ukraine's civilian population, millions of Ukrainians would not have fled to Russia.

If Russia wanted to kill Ukraine's civilian population Kiev would look like Gaza.

If Russia wanted to kill Ukraine's civilian population, the war in Ukraine would not have the lowest civilian to military casualty ratio of any modern conflict.

If Russia wanted to kill Ukraine's civilian population, there would not still be millions of former Ukrainian citizens living in the liberated Donbass and thousands of Ukrainians choosing to fight for Russia.

The war started because the West orchestrated a fascist coup in Kiev that brought to power a militaristic Neo-Nazi regime that started a war against its own people in Eastern Ukraine. Russia intervened to protect those people and stop a genocide.