This is a good short summary of some of the problems with what is usually considered to be the most "objective" and "evidence based" of the pro-western media estimates (which are already vastly below the totally absurd claims of NATO and the Kiev regime) of Russian casualties:

https://xcancel.com/KitKlarenberg/status/2030712552368251010

Basically they pad their database with a load of fake entries and completely unsourced claims. If an amateur investigation can already uncover that many inconsistencies imagine how damning a proper professional critical analysis would be.

It turns out that neither side has a massive advantage in terms of casualties

I'm not sure i even agree with this. I think if you take this into account showing that even the more "credible" Russian casualty estimates are overestimated, plus consider the following factors:

• Ukrainian casualty estimates even by the Russian MOD are probably underestimates because they can only count what they can observe and a lot of casualties caused by deep strikes behind the front lines can't be observed

• exchanges of recovered bodies (as well as prisoners, though those exchanges hardly take place anymore because the Ukrainians hardly ever take prisoners anymore) are enormously skewed in Russia's favor even though they are not advancing that fast

• the disparity in firepower has always been heavily skewed in Russia's favor, especially in artillery and long range strikes, and now also increasingly in drones as well, which almost certainly leads to a big disparity in casualties

• the desperation with which Ukraine is mobilizing people despite already by all accounts having mobilized far more in total than the Russians have (not just in relative numbers to their smaller population but in absolute numbers),

you arrive at the conclusion that probably the people who were citing very lopsided casualty ratios in favor of Russia were right all along, and the Ukrainians are taking massive casualties to Russia's relatively modest numbers.