I discount any news directly from the Russians for the same reason I discount any news directly from the US State Department, and for obvious reasons.

The rest of this piece has some merit, albeit (IMO) with more than a bit of historical revisionism.

I think it is clear Russia vastly underestimated the first weeks of the invasion. Ironically not unlike what the US did in Iraq. US and Russian tactics were VERY different however, and after the first few weeks of each invasion, the strategy and tactics or Russia changed significantly.

After 8 years in Iraq, the US left (mostly) and certainly not in victory. After 9 months in Ukraine, it looks like Russia is taking a "slow and steady wins the race" attrition strategy, to avoid the massive insurgency problem the US had in Iraq. We'll see how that strategy pans out as time goes by. Right now it looks pretty good, but of course Russia's adversaries get a say in the matter as well.