Putin really needs an 'out' round about now whether it is to his benefit or not is irrelevant.
1. He thought they could threaten Ukraine to meet their demands, this failed.
2. He manufactured justification to increase the pressure from threat to direct military action, this is failing.
3. The military action was to be a very short run, rush through Ukraine secure Kiev and other cities to install puppet government, this has failed so far.
4. The delay has meant he is struggling to meet his goals in Ukraine, met an unexpected strong Ukrainian resistance which has not only galvanised the whole country but also united the west behind them.
5. This delay now means he has lost the advantages of expedience and this situation being treated as a speed bump. Seen unified sanctions implemented and being able to take effect, and the longer this goes on the harder it becomes for him and Russia. He is effectively running out of road as a result and has decreasing options available to deliver any success, hence further increasing his earlier practice of using bigger threats.
The only options for success then are either at the table via diplomatic compromises in Ukraine or cobtinued military action offering diminishing returns.
. There will be no winners, or he continues his assault to remove Zelensky. This again has become a more dangerous maneuver, given the profile he has accumulated but he would have to be removed or at least 'beaten' diplomatically. I don't think assassination or forced removal is an option now without further ostracising himself and Russia, and given the uprising in Ukraine a puppet government is unlikely to last very long if at all.
Essentially, although the war is ongoing I think we are back to him raising the threat level again to secure his 'win'. They will likely continue their assault for the time being, siege Kyiv and maybe another few cities and ultimately the situation will be resolved diplomatically for the interim. Unfortunately with a needless loss of life and where Russia will be much worse off after this epsiode than they were before. It will be a long game situation, but again this is subject to similar dangers to both Putin and Ukraine, the issue of time and delay will see more deaths but also higher impact to Putin's position; time is the biggest threat to everyone in this situation.