NATO attacking Russia would definitely not be playing into Russia's hands. Very bad for Russia, very costly for NATO, long war would make the voters unhappy, and India and China would feel rightly threatened.
Russian and Ukrainian militaries are being destroyed, but it also matters how fast they are being rebuilt. As mentioned above, Russia and Ukraine are debugging all their outdated military doctrines. The survivors will have a lot of hard-won experience.
What I meant was any direct NATO aggression against Russia would validate Russia's current "victimhood" narrative, and provide after the fact justification for their invasion of Ukraine in the first place.
They are very intentionally doing things that would not justify a full military retaliation by NATO.
Russian and Ukrainian militaries are being destroyed, but it also matters how fast they are being rebuilt. As mentioned above, Russia and Ukraine are debugging all their outdated military doctrines. The survivors will have a lot of hard-won experience.