Based on the maps of Russian controlled areas we're seeing it's difficult to see what the Russian plan is here. Obviously they're looking to remove/replace the Ukrainian govt. but the way they're trying to do it is just confusing.
Because it didn't go to plan.
The plan itself is fairly obvious: drive through the East until you hit the Dneiper, take Kherson and move up central region, and both the heavy armor in the East and the Marines in the South join with the airborne troops in Kyiv. Ukraine falls rapidly. Halt for rearm/refit and continue to Lviv if they still put up a fight.
Possibly they're trying to minimise civilian casualties.
Yes. The Russians were prepared to be welcomed as liberators, not as conquerors.
It must be perplexing for them, at all levels, since the FSB said that something like 10% of Eastern Ukrainians "approve" of the government, and estimated that 40-50% of the country as a whole approved of Zelenskyy and the Rada. That said they've been planning this invasion for months with Feb 22nd as the target date, too, because Zhirinovsky said so on his hot takes TV show. So the FSB thing was probably just a final check rather than a initiator.
More likely the NLAWS are extremely effective and Russian morale is breaking down in the face of the defence.
It has very little to do with NLAW (I guess that helps a bit, but it's not some magic wand) and more likely to do with the fact that the US is providing radar coverage of the entire country with Global Hawks and air battle management with E-3 Sentries. The Ukrainian Air Force got enough planes off the ground given US warning that they can contest Kyiv's airspace and are probably basing out of Poland and Romania for the moment.
As for morale, the VDV has lost roughly 4,000 KIA in Kyiv and the 11th Gds Airborne Brigade probably no longer exists. They are understandably upset, but they're sort of battering a motor infantry brigade and tank battalion (4th Rapid Reaction Brigade, basically BTR-4/MRAP motor rifles) with an airborne division, so that's to be expected I guess. They have another two brigades in reserve in Belarus (not for long, if they aren't already engaged) and the General Staff wants the city taken before Monday. Kharkiv or Mariupol will likely be hit by heavy flamethrowers TOS-1 from the Chemical Troops either today or Monday. It's hard to tell because I think the troops in either city use the same tactical ID markings and both are major objectives for the ground advance forces.
I suspect this because TOS-1 heavy flamethrowers were seen in Tokmak, but they may only be getting used on military targets like fighter bases. I don't know the Russian ROE on artillery but I guess it will change rapidly since the BTGs are too weak in infantry to be effective in urban fighting without mass artillery support. Tokmak is roughly equidistant from Mariupol and Kharkiv but Kharkiv is bigger and on the axis of the Regular Army's tank forces. Mariupol is target of Naval Infantry and Kadyrovsty.
The Ukrainians know where every Russian armored column is better than the Russians do, but they're still getting pretty heavily mauled. While the Russians might have suffered about 4-5k KIA as of Saturday evening, the Ukrainians are probably closer to double this at 8k; this is based on blood product availability in the two countries.
Source: I know a guy who knows a guy who's a Bde Cmdr in theater and the guy I know is a trauma doc who was in the Soviet military.