Russian military exaggerates progress in Ukraine, analysts say

Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) write, "Russian forces increased the intensity of their attacks towards Toretsk overnight on 18 June after being generally inactive in this sector of the front throughout 2024." Shoigu claimed that Moscow managed to occupy 420 square kilometres of Ukraine. But that's not all.

Much of the information provided by Russian media or officials is part of propaganda. Such reports are part of the information warfare conducted by the Russian Federation.

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Shoigu announced that since 14 June 2024, Russian forces had occupied 420 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory.

"The window of opportunity for Ukraine is narrowing," said Shoigu, pointing out that every day of delay in making such a decision results in losing control over another part of the territory.

Meanwhile, ISW has gathered evidence confirming that Russian forces occupied about 290 square kilometres, not 420.

We read that "Russian forces increased the intensity of their attacks towards Toretsk overnight on 18 June after being generally inactive in this sector of the front throughout 2024."

Since 14 July, ISW has not observed any significant or operational advances by Russia towards Toretsk or Avdiivka, although Russian forces have made tactical advances in these directions.

The Russian military command has repeatedly exaggerated Russia's territorial gains in Ukraine, remind the analysts.

At the same time, according to Russia's Ministry of Defence, Ukraine reportedly lost over 115,000 soldiers in less than two months. This could have been avoided if Kyiv had implemented half of the proposals submitted in June by Russian President Vladimir Putin, babbled Shoigu.

What does Putin expect? The dictator demands that Kyiv recognise the status of Crimea, the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions as parts of Russia, solidify Ukraine's non-aligned and nuclear-free status, demilitarise and denazify, and lift anti-Russian sanctions.

The Ukrainian side rejected these conditions, calling them an "ultimatum." "The window of opportunity for Ukraine is narrowing," Shoigu added, emphasizing that Ukraine had not responded and would lose more territory the longer it delayed.

But that's not all. As always, the West was also blamed. If the West thinks it can drag Russia into a long negotiation process over Ukraine and stage a scenario aimed at Moscow's gradual loss of initiative during the special operation, it is deeply mistaken, said the former defence minister.

Shoigu believes that Europeans "once again in every possible way hinder the achievement of real progress in the Ukrainian solution, proposing obviously unacceptable initiatives in the spirit of the Copenhagen or Swiss format."