That is not desperation, itโs part of his end game. One never starts a war without having an exit strategy. The only way Putin eventually wins, is if he replaces not only the Head of State with a pro-Russian puppet but also takes control over the judicial system (judges) and law enforcement (police) to enforce these strict new societal norms and the people capitulated. Putin is using psychological warfare to aid him in achieving that.
Putin miscalculated big time thinking the Ukrainians would cave and capitulate. Sure, his military will most likely take over the country defeating the Ukrainian military but then the guerilla war starts in the city streets with regular Ukrainian citizens fighting back. Regular people doing hit and run attacks with small arms and home made bombs. He wonโt win the hearts and minds of the Ukrainian people so Putin has already lost. But, it will just take a very long time before he has to pull back to Russia in retreat (potentially years with a lot of unnecessary death and destruction first). All one has to do is look at history: the US lost in Vietnam to largely a bunch of villagers, Russia lost in Afghanistan in the 80s to a bunch of villagers, the English lost to America in the 1700s to militia. A conscription army (Russian military) simply cannot beat a people, in the long run, where normal citizens are prepared to fight and die for their country. To be an occupation force, he needs 10x the troops then he has available.