Russia did not lose, yet.

For a while it seemed inevitable that it would lose, and that it should have given up a long time ago. But now one of Ukraine's major supporters is about to back out, and that will have a dramatic effect on the balance of power.

They still need to weather the next few months, during which time Ukraine is less beholden to America's wishes to keep the war confined. Ukraine couldn't really win while confined largely to their own borders. But if Russia can make it to February, they may yet be able to win.

This is corroborated by Russian sources. Apparently they were upgraded with modern Kontakt reactive armor. And they aren't that old: the models in question were still in production in the late 60s. The Bradley APCs that are being shipped off to Ukraine (and accounted by their book value by the way) aren't any more modern and offer even worse protection and firepower.

Basically, the story is true, minus the prepended "because they lost so many tanks".