If Putin wants to take land, it would only be regions with a decent Russian speaking population. In general, he would want to avoid civilian deaths, preferring to take over the East/Southeast, and just kick out anyone who would oppose Russian rule.
Nine times out of ten, he’s looking for a fait accompli, not a war. He might rush towards Kiev, to distract the Ukrainian military while the provinces vote to secede and vote the Russian troops in - or whatever - but in general there’s no winner if he tries to take the more Ukrainian part of the country and he’ll be destroying himself if he starts bombing Kiev and footage starts going out of civilians getting murdered by Russian troops.
There’s no benefit to creating a 9/11 situation where the whole world gives the thumbs up to wreck someone’s day, once the footage gets out.
The troops that matter are in the Southern part of the Eastern border. The others are there to scare and distract. They might shoot at soldiers up North and make aggressive moves towards Kiev, but taking the whole enchilada isn’t in the running.