Not very much, no. Like all those other times, Russia appears to have assumed that since it had the overwhelming conventional forces of a much larger army (and a much larger country than Ukraine backing them up) that it would be a relatively simple matter to win just by invading. They don't appear to have learned any of the lessons of asymmetric warfare.

Correct on two counts. First, they thought it would be over in a matter of days or weeks. Had they taken Kyiv, it might have been. But, similar to Operation Barbarossa (which was counting on taking Moscow within a month or two), they failed to achieve that objective. And, once bogged down, they were screwed. Then comes the asymmetric warfare, especially drone use. The result has been a severely degraded Russian military, and so long as they have difficulty selling their oil and natural gas, they can't fund equipment build-up very well.

His own version of "greeted as liberators" and "candy and flowers."

Some very specific regions were almost exactly that. They are a minority, but there are some of pro-Russian Ukrainians. Especially near Crimea. But, most of the country, no. He does seem to think Ukraine should miss being Soviet just as much as Putin does. Clearly, that was wrong.