Yes. It’s been that way since the beginning. Ukraine has always been stronger.
You have it backwards, the narrative has since the beginning been that a russian victory is inevitable.
Russia has always been incompetent.
They really have, while Ukraine should be lauded for innovating so much with drones, russia created this existential vulnerability to their tanks decades ago and never addressed it to the point that russian tanks popping their turrets became a damn meme, they just hadn't fought an opponent smart and adaptable enough to properly punish them for their bullshitting.
Further, russia has begun to blatantingly lie about where the frontlines are to coddle Putin's feelings, to the point of their own soldiers being sent to their deaths because they believed the frontline was somewhere else entirely until it hit them lethally in the face with no warninh. I don't think you can actually get any more incompetent than that, that is rock bottom for an "organized" military.