I'm not sure I've seen a single article on FR claiming that Russia has been defeated. Literally not even one. So I'm pretty sure this isn't the 3rd of 4th time you've read that today. You're just reflexively ridiculing anything that the Russians aren't having a cakewalk through Ukraine.
It's reasonable not to accept every claim from either side as the gospel. But one thing that has seemed to be fairly accurate are Ukrainian claims that certain senior Russian officers have been killed, and I say that because they all seem to have been confirmed by the Russians as well.
A particular officer being relieved isn't quite the same thing, but I imagine the underlying sources -- intercepted radio communications -- are the same. So while you may be hoping very badly for this not to be true, I wouldn't bet on that.
It’s just that, for some, not only is everything believed at face value but that what is essentially “war trivia” is presented as meaning much of anything.
When FDR died, Goebbels was said to have been in ecstasy. Surely such a great event portended a German victory in WW2.
So, for me, it’s the grasping at straws that brings on the giggle. I don’t care much either way how the latest EuroSlav urination contest turns out; we got our own fish to fry.