Unpopular? That's the word you'd use to describe Ukraine surrendering? Just "unpopular"? Putin rejected his (ostensibly) real goal of Ukraine being barred from NATO before the war even started in order to seek out deeper goals and political control. Then he ran the independence referenda in the Russian-army-occupied settlements, that claimed "independence" over the entire regions (a large chunk of which Russia didn't even control).

Those referenda are currently a part of Putin's non-negotiables for a peace deal. So then why would you ever characterise it as Ukraine bringing it on themselves? That they're the ones who aren't being serious about negotiations? Are they "prolonging" the war for fun? I hope you don't actually buy this and it's just a contrarian bit.