Supposedly this operation has been planned for 2 months:

https://twitter.com/michaeldweiss/status/1672541087020339200

Maybe he was relying on his allies eg: General Surovikin. Nevertheless, he is correct to sense that many in the Russian Army are unhappy with how the war is panning out. But he is either miscalculating or misreading the situation, or see this as an existential crisis for himself and Wagner [1]

[1] https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offens...