Putin’s army hasn’t “held back” in Kyiv. They weren’t able to deploy their gunships as they don’t have air superiority.
They weren’t able to conquere with tanks as they were defeated.
And after over 6 weeks of watching the slow roll to stall to digging in to retreat, putinists still try to convince themselves it was all part of the plan...
That’s not to say the war is over. The units that came down from Belarus were clearly neither led nor supplied nor properly trained for their mission. The units in the south and east are probably better off logistically, at least for now. But they still face the Ukrainians on their home turf.