It is increasingly clear that the Russian Army may struggle to assemble sufficient combat power to actually take Kharkiv, let alone Kyiv.
In addition to the losses already suffered, its resupply convoys are under consistent attack by Ukrainian light infantry. Kharkiv, Sumy and Chernihiv are under heavy bombardment, but the limited Russian efforts to actually storm besieged cities and towns in the north have been costly and largely unsuccessful.
its army is taking losses in Ukraine which are fundamentally unsustainable if they continue over more than a month or two. In return, it has captured limited amounts of territory in the north, east and south of Ukraine, but has only taken one major city (Kherson) and a few smaller ones such as Melitopol.
The other cities it has encircled such as Mariupol, Kharkiv and Sumy have already badly damaged or destroyed by weeks of bombardments and fighting.
Even if Russian troops eventually succeed in forcing them to surrender, they will be left attempting to control a partially armed population which is now united as never before by an intense hatred of Russia.
Meanwhile the rest of Ukraine is now beyond Russia's capacity to influence or 'regain' forever. Putin now needs his forces to achieve something he can sell to his own people as a victory worth these huge costs.
dailymail.co.uk