The Russians are keeping this low key. Gain as much undefended ground as possible with as little civilian casualties as possible. We can already see videos of Russian soldiers showing a lot of restraint when it comes to dealing with civilians, especially when managing traffic.
So massive fires have not been used. No artillery, no significant air attacks, no SEAD/DEAD campaign etc. This means it's difficult to remove Ukranian defences with close combat alone.
The aim is to get Ukraine to surrender with the least amount of bloodshed, even if the Russians take more losses themselves. If the Ukrainians don't agree, what happens next is anyone's guess.
Human shields. The assets in the open field have been destroyed. However Ukraine has buried some assets amongst civilians. All it needs is an escalation.
