The WSJ has some good points:
The war has dragged on miserably, but by now the implicitness of defeat permeates Russian TV coverage, even if the word isn’t used. The implicitness of defeat permeates the commentary of the anointed milbloggers, freelance pro-war commentators who have been granted or granted themselves permission to criticize the military’s performance..
None of this would be happening, none of this would be visible to us, if Russia’s ruling elites had not given up on winning the war. The Putin regime has become like a married couple throwing decorum to the winds and having a knockdown brawl in a restaurant. ...