The NYT was shitty long before that. They famously did not cover the Holocaust. Not the run up, and not even during the war.
When the camps were liberated, Americans at home had no idea who was in the camps.
The owner of the NYT was later asked about their failures in covering the Holocaust and the buildup, and said with a shrug "the NYT didn't really cover the Holocaust".
As a note the owner of the NYT was Jewish. But didn't want to be associated with poor Jews.
Ukraine was a massive fuck up for Putin. He believes in the bullshit known as color revolution.
So he thought he'd pull one in Ukraine. A few years of some soldiers fucking around in the East, then he'd walk in and be welcomed.
Which is fucking stupid.
But Putin has long since killed anyone who would tell him that an idea is stupid, or that people don't work the way a paranoid, backstabbing KGB trained psychopath thinks they do.
No, Putin fucked up hard due to the dictator trap.
Now he's scrambling. He's been killing off rivals and opponents at a breakneck pace the last few years, all because his position has never been weaker.
And he barely managed to diffuse a coup attempt.
He had to use treachery to do it, so the next time, the coup leader will not back down.
No, Putin is desperate to pull out some sort of win in Ukraine, because anything else is the end of his rule, and likely his life.