One month in, Russia's invasion of Ukraine isn't going how Moscow planned.

The war has come with a terrible human cost, killing thousands on both sides, including civilians, while turning millions into refugees and cities into bombed-out shells of their former selves.

The biggest uncertainty remains how the war will end, and what Russian President Vladimir Putin needs to walk away from a disastrous military confrontation that has strangled his country's economy while dealing a serious blow to the prestige of Russia's military.

Russian forces, while making progress in the south, have not captured Kyiv and have even been pushed back as they try to advance on the capital.

“Four weeks into this war it's very evident it's not going as Russia intended, planned, and expected,” said Steven Horrell with the Center for European Policy Analysis.

But experts are unsure how much longer the conflict will last — even as both sides are facing the tolls of war and the world ratchets up its sanctioning of Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been eager to sit down with Putin to find a resolution. He’s largely abandoned his hopes of joining NATO, instead eyeing other methods to secure the protection of allies from Russia.

Putin, on the other hand, has floated using chemical weapons in the fight and is overseeing a propaganda machine that seeks to conceal from the Russian public the devastating consequences of his invasion.

https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/599823-ukrainian-invasion-takes-bad-turn-for-russia