One month after Ukraine started their counterattack in Kherson, the Ukrainian Ground Forces are now having difficulty pushing Russian forces back.

Both parties are reportedly deadlocked, with Kherson being the most pivotal location in the war. Ukraine has made progress in cutting down supply routes for Russia and isolating its forces in the northern and southern parts of Kherson. Still, recent Russian advances in the eastern Donetsk region pushed them back.

Some experts believe the standstill is caused by exhaustion, with the war waging on its 24th week.

“Given how much attrition the Russians have suffered, the most they can hope for is to take the rest of Donetsk. I don’t think they have the capacity to take Mykolaiv, let alone Odesa,” Panagiotis Gartzonikas, a former armored division commander in the Hellenic Army and lecturer at Greece’s National Defence College, told Al Jazeera.