A battle to take Kyiv would be manpower and equipment intensive, and probably very costly. A lot of supplies need to be accumulated before undertaking something like that. If the general staff is squawking about the task then Putin may have decided to lay off Kyiv and redeploy his forces to the eastern part of Ukraine so that he can get more decisive results there in time to affect a peace settlement.
Just read Paul Kengors article in Spectator. He knows the Russians
https://spectator.org/russians-know-death-unlike-any-other-people/
They are having a hard time getting their units resupplied even though Russia is next door and Belarus is their ally and allows their land to be used for staging and transit.
That’s how I see it. They are recoiling into a defensive position in the West and increasing the tempo in the East. The only question seems to be ‘where does the line get drawn?’ When the war first started I believed Putin might try to divide Ukraine at the Dnieper river, which would seem to be a good natural boundary, like the Rhine serves for France and Germany. I now believe his goals will be more modest and limited to the two breakaway provinces...
In my opinion, the operation around Kiev is meant to pin a large portion of Ukrainian forces in the northwest while the Russians solidify their land corridor to Crimea in the southeast. It seems like the latter objective is now nearly accomplished. I would assume that an armistice at this point would trade that corridor for a withdrawal of Russian forces from the vicinity of Kiev and other areas of the north.
‘’Putin may have decided to lay off Kyiv and redeploy his forces to the eastern part of Ukraine so that he can get more decisive results there in time to affect a peace settlement.’’
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Last week the Russian Defense Minister gave a very detailed explanation this was happening. He showed boxes around the major cities outside the South and East and said these boxes were to pen in the troops as they take over the Donbas and South. They never were going street by street in Kiev etc
Unfortunately many were reading the Daily Mail et al. The word on the Russian side since mid-March has been by the end of April they will have what they need in the East and expect these troops around cities to be directed there.
More to the point, per some people the Russians have already achieved their primary war aims - securing the resources around the Crimea and the breakaway provinces plus securing the water sources for the Crimea. Everything after that has been optional/gravy.