Yes it is a proxy war, and Russia already took Crimea and Donbas back in 2014. How would it be seen as a victory to say they have conquered those areas - in this war post 2022, when they already controlled them for 10 years?
The weapons—excluding nuclear, that Ukraine has are clearly much more competitive, that's why Russia is having to use ballistic missiles to do 'random' attacks in Kiev. Russia doesn't have level of precision targeted weaponry that Ukraine has.