The trend of reporting how things are really going is definitely on the rise as it becomes increasingly difficult to keep pretending everything’s going according to plan. Not that they’re not trying though. One of my fav recent articles was the one from The Guardian where it just plainly admits that it’s not about winning anymore, but about controlling the narrative

They also need a better narrative. For much of the last year, the White House has argued that US support should be focused on helping Ukraine retake territory. But this limits US policymakers and makes the failure by Ukraine to retake territory a Russian win almost by default. Instead, the White House should seek to build a new narrative: that this is a war of defence for Ukraine, and a strategic defeat for Russia, and that the US can support Ukraine while also acknowledging that there are other national security priorities that might need to take precedence. This narrative is less aspirational, but more pragmatic.