(NewsNation) — Nearly a month into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, analysts are saying most of Russia’s forces have stalled, unable to complete their mission of overrunning Ukraine’s major cities.

The cities are being worn down by heavy damage, mostly from artillery, but expert observers say a sort of stalemate has been reached.

“Russian forces remain bogged down,” former Lt. Gen. Richard Newton said Sunday on “NewsNation Prime.” The fact that Ukraine’s badly outmatched forces have been able to halt the Russian advance on several fronts “shows the resilinecy” of the Ukranian people, and especially its military.

That’s not necessarily good news for Ukraine’s civilians, however. As Russian forces fall back on artillery barrages that don’t necessarily discriminate between military and civilian targets, Newton says the Ukrainian people will face a virutal “force of terror of civilian atrocities.”

On Sunday, for example, Ukrainian authorities said Russia’s military bombed an art school sheltering some 400 people in Mariupol, where Ukraine’s president said an unrelenting Russian siege would be remembered for centuries to come.

Regardless of what happens to Mariupol, Newton said he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin will “continue to focus on Kyiv as his center of gravity,” and that one of his main goals will continue to be “trying to capture or kill (Ukrainian) President Zelenskyy.”

When asked about Putin’s tactics going forward, Newton said the Russian leader is trying to create a narrative to keep the Russian military and Russian people on his side.

“He has a number of audiences he has to play to: Obviously his own military, which again is several days off their timeline. They’re short of food and water; they need resupply … also, the Russian people,” many of whom do not support the war.

With 7,000 to 10,000 Russian soldiers already killed, even though “the Russians have actually gained very little ground,” Putin “is trying to control the situation,” and as a result, Newton predicted, he will continue to escalate the conflict.

The Russian military says it already deployed hypersonic missiles, claiming Saturday and Sunday to have deployed them against targets in Ukraine, marking the weapon’s first use in combat. The Pentagon couldn’t confirm a hypersonic weapon was used in the attacks.

“That is the level of raising the ante here that he is compelled and forced to do,” Newton said.