The areas being cleared & flattened are the Ukrainian side of the trenches & minefields the Russian laid which to Russians makes good sense, if they retain those areas their side of the minefields & see Ukraine kept out of NATO they will consider that a success.Explain Mariupol.. russia pretty much leveled it and now they are rebuilding it and flooding it with Russians. Same all over occupied Ukraine. Why is is not such no mans land is being formed where russia already boarders NATO, indeed rather than being strengthened those boarder defenses have been weakened to prop up the war in Ukraine! Putin's recent mention of a buffer zone is because he knows unlike russia territory, the lands russia has stolen remain vulnerable to being taken back. Where russia has advanced they do not plant demolition charges and flatten every house behind them to create this no mans land you speak of. russian forces flatten every house in front of them only because they cant move beyond them and each is a potential Ukrainian defensive position. putler and many russians have a rose tinted idea of russian greatness that must be reclaimed regardless of the cost in russian blood. You continue to ignore this reality but russian expansion ideology has for a long while only been held back by Western actions, the West did not bring about such russian intentions. The stupidity Brian, it is entirely yours.