I would say your comment about there being no western reporters at the war front says volumes as to how the war is going.
If the following were fact:
Russian tanks abandoned or blown up by the thousands
Russians using antique weapons that simply do not work
Dead Russians piled up like cord wood
Russian soldiers raping anything with two and sometimes four legs
Hordes of glorious brave Ukrainian soldiers chasing off Russia’s chicken convict soldiers
(the list goes on, but you got the drift)
If any of the above were fact, western reporters from all nations would have video and audio evidence of such.
Instead we have to put up with whatever the propaganda ministers feed us, which ranges from half truths to outright lies.
Where are all the embedded CNN reporters with the troops at the front? There are none because the truth must be inconvenient.