“The Russians are wining, the Ukrainians are wining. Back and forth who to believe. Sounds like a whole lot of BS from both sides.”
Not this time. There is unbiased reporting, including this link, where the guy bashes Russia half of the time. Also note that Ukraine is TOTALLY SILENT...so there is no back and forth, at least at this point.
It would not surprise me to see the Russians more competent in defense than in offense.
It was seen in the Japanese in WWII.