Pay attention to the bits in bold - Putin does not want to conquer all of Ukraine militarily - Putin "gaining ground", taking territory of Ukraine, is brining Putin closer to his objective
No contradiction, if you switch your logic on.
"...so when you say gaining ground is brining them closer to their objective, what do you mean?..." I mean that there's an objective and gaining more ground helps the Russian government achieve that objective.
Capturing territory is not an objective in itself. It's a tool to achieve the objective.
