So they're not planning on consolidating the territory held by Russian speaking separatists on the eastern border of Ukraine and formally occupying it as they did with Crimea?
In November? Weather gets pretty difficult in this part of the world, even with modern tech, so I doubt any war is imminent.
Also there have been big, maybe even bigger, deployments and build-ups (April was the last iirc) on the border that haven’t led to invasion, despite many in the media saying it’s imminent. Also, war would almost inevitably be the end of nordstream.
The feeling outside of the kneejerk media who dip in and out of this situation seems to be that no one knows, maybe even Putin isn’t sure of his next solid move, but an imminent invasion is unlikely - not impossible of course - at least until the spring, and much could happen between now and then but Putin wants all options open including an invasion.
Personally, I really don’t think a war will play well here, Putin isn’t the popular dear leader some make him out to be, there is a significant undercurrent that could turn nasty. Ukraine has improved its military capabilities so an invasion, even successful, will be bloody, and the aftermath of holding territory would be brutal - this will not play into the Kremlin’s hands like the initial largely bloodless Crimea annexation did.