Russia has employed lying in propaganda in and out of the context of war since the beginning and before it
Such as?
You have to look for the facts and indications beyond the propaganda without being distracted by the propaganda or trying to meta-analyze it.
How exactly would that work? Are you assuming that there is some objective truth that is somehow magically outside the realm of propaganda? How would we access this truth?
I haven't noticed such systematic lying beyond what I would expect in wartime propaganda from Ukraine.
How about overstating Russian casualties by at least 6 to 1? How about celebrating and crowing about the disastrous counter-offensive in Kursk? What about completely ridiculous and insane air defense shoot down percentages they claim even while not having any air defense interceptors?
Press landscape is its own share of issues and part of what makes propaganda so important, effective, and necessary.
I completely agree that propaganda is an essential front in war. Do you actually believe that the media is in any way independent from that? Have you observed that Western outlets simply cite Ukrainian propaganda uncritically? (see: Russian casualties as a glaring example)
Ukraine has losses, but, with its limited resources, Ukraine is also very successful in defending
No, this is incorrect. When the war started, Ukraine massively outnumbered Russian forces on the field. (Roughly 800k versus 200k). Over the course of this war they have squandered every advantage by literally fighting like Nazis. By that I mean refusing to withdraw from positions being encircled and wave after wave of hopeless counter-attacks that are accelerating their force attrition. Even Sirski is forced to admit that the UA is shrinking, while the number of Russian forces in the field is growing.
and striking into Russia.
Yet Russian oil exports continue to grow. Perhaps these attacks on Russian energy infrastructure are not as successful as the Western media would have you believe.
And to retain support, they have to utilize propaganda/publicity, to stay in the public and international eye, and continue to receive support. And they're very effective in that too.
I certainly agree that Ukraine has been effective in promulgating their propaganda narratives in the western press. Of course they have a lot of help from Western intelligence