Of course, propaganda is a natural and necessary part of war and what we are reading is mostly pro-Ukrainian propaganda. Stories that are meant to raise morale. You should always take war news with a pinch of salt.
Sure there is always some on both sides; but the Russians were considered a superpower and Ukraine's military was considered much weaker on paper: the Russians are the ones moving backwards and losing all the time. Winners go forwards. Propaganda is mostly useful to the loser trying to convince their population that all is well. Goebbels kept saying Germany was winning even as the Russians and Western allies were already in Germany.