The Ukrainians have demonstrated much greater strength, tactical and strategic planning, innovation in weapons and use, (as demonstrated by the degradation of the Russian Black Sea fleet), than they had before the war started.
It is a horrible war for both sides, with terrible casualties. But Russia appears to be losing more manpower and material than the Ukrainians. Hard to see how this works out better for either side. But the Chinese are becoming much stronger compared to the Russians.
I don’t believe the remarkable ‘success’ of the Ukrainians in the Russian Black Sea so much as a highly capable, front-line force as much as I believe that they are adequately capable, well-equipped (from Western powers) implementers. IOW, Russian fleet equipment intel-identified, tracked, and designated by US/EU intel and then UKEs given the information and they push the buttons.