An important reason why the Russian offensive is slow, mainly around Kyiv, is that the units' wheeled vehicles are relegated to driving on roads, something that the Ukrainian defense forces have been able to take advantage of by attacking the vehicle convoys and disrupting the maintenance of the troops.

This is the assessment of Magnus Christiansson, senior lecturer in military science at the Swedish National Defense College.

He believes that it is currently difficult to assess the immediate development.

- There is much to suggest that the Russian battalions are quite torn apart and need time to recover.

But at the same time we do not know how weakened the Ukrainian side is.

Offensive against Kyiv is expected

The well-known Russian vehicle column northwest of Kyiv, several miles long, has now gained access to that road network to the east and has thus been able to split up and take strategic positions in the face of a likely offensive against the capital, where President Zelensky still remains an important symbol.

- And to enclose Kyiv from east and west has taken much longer than both Western observers and the Russians themselves thought.

Now they are so stuck in this war that the Ukrainian resistance will hardly end even if the government in Kyiv falls.

According to an intelligence report from the British Ministry of Defense, the Russian units in the south are currently surrounding Mykolaiv in the south, reports Reuters.

In this way, Russia hopes to be able to contain the Ukrainian forces defending the city and continue towards the million-strong city of Odessa in the far southwest.

"Feeling cramped"

But according to the British report, the Ukrainian units offer very strong resistance in several places in the country.

Can Ukraine win the war?

- As long as there is resistance and you continue to get weapons from the West, Goliath has not won against David.

But at the same time, the situation is very dangerous because Russia now says that Western arms shipments are legitimate targets.

They feel increasingly crowded and it threatens the entire European security, says Magnus Christiansson.

On Sunday, Russia carried out a number of air strikes on several targets in western Ukraine, which have so far been relatively spared from the war and where many internally displaced people have therefore gone.

Several cruise missiles crashed at the airport outside Ivano-Frankivsk and eight robots destroyed a military training facility in Javoriv northwest of Lviv.

At least nine people were killed and more than fifty were injured in the attack.

The base in Javoriv is just over a mile from the border with NATO member Poland.