Russia is running out of armor and mechanized infantry. You can see this reflected in their own military documents. Their new organization schemes keep the tanks in the back and minimize artillery support, preferring to send small squads of underequipped, dismounted infantry. A shovel is a reasonable weapon for hand to hand combat, but hand to hand combat is not an important part of modern warfare. The story is that some hapless mobiks are being thrown into the meat grinder to a greater extent that before.
It's not an important story. just a symptom of a continuing theme.
I'm not sure what exactly this is supposed to imply.
For what it's worth, while Russia has been losing tanks on a daily basis, it has not been seen as a limiting factor quantity wise until recently. People have been calling Russia's tank losses unsustainable for a long time, and they were correct, but its only now beginning to materialize as actual deficiencies that requires a change in battlefield tactics.
Russia of course still has a lot of tanks. But not enough to support mechanized infantry units effectively at the scale of yolo squads they're sending into the front. They've also lost pretty much any remaining sense of competency among their tank crews. See the clown car pileup of tanks not knowing what to do in a minefield in Vuhledar recently.
It's not an important story. just a symptom of a continuing theme.