Why this score Chief of the Russian General Staff. His public battlefield claims are systematically exaggerated beyond verifiable reality — ISW assesses his periodic choreographed briefings as a cognitive-warfare effort to portray Russian advances and imminent Ukrainian collapse. Recorded as Russia's official military messaging, not as reliable factual claims.
Tracked statements
4
✗ false
Russian forces have seized more than 1,800 square kilometres and 92 settlements since 1 September 2026, including more than 180 square kilometres and 10 settlements in Zaporizhzhia Oblast; they stand five kilometres from Zaporizhzhia city and have completed an encirclement in northern Kharkiv Oblast, seizing 461 square kilometres and 28 settlements there.
False. ISW measures a net Russian loss of 122 km² across the front since September 1, 104.5 km² seized in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, and Russian forces at least 20.95 km from Zaporizhzhia city. It found no evidence of an encirclement in Kharkiv Oblast.
Russian forces have seized Kostiantynivka, Oleksiievo-Druzhkivka, Dobropillya, Pervomaiske and Serhiivka, have entered south-eastern and south-western Druzhkivka, have reached the outskirts of Kramatorsk, and control half of Mykolaivka, east of Slovyansk.
False. ISW sees no Russian consolidation in Dobropillya or Oleksiievo-Druzhkivka, observed Ukrainian troops in western Kostiantynivka on October 10, and puts Russian forces, infiltrators included, at least 9 km from Kramatorsk and 12 km from Druzhkivka. On Mykolaivka, Kyiv concedes only a small infiltration group.
Russian forces have seized Pyskunivka, Pershomarivka and Orikhuvatkha, stand four kilometres from the eastern outskirts of Sloviansk and are fighting three kilometres from Kramatorsk; they occupy almost half of Oleksiievo-Druzhkivka, are 1.5 kilometres from Druzhkivka, and seized more than 100 square kilometres in the Druzhkivka area alone in July and August 2026.
ISW observes no Russian presence, by advance or infiltration, in any of the three named settlements, and puts Russian forces about 14 kilometres from both Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. Against the 100-square-kilometre claim for one area it measures 52.23 square kilometres seized across all of Donetsk Oblast in those two months.
Russian forces have entered or nearly seized a string of Donetsk-area settlements — including Dobropillya, Hannivka, Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka, Svitle and Krasnoyarske — reached within five kilometers of Kramatorsk, and seized Myrne northeast of Pokrovsk.
False. In a choreographed July 18 briefing, Russia's General Staff chief Valery Gerasimov presented advances well beyond reality: using geolocated footage ISW found no evidence Russian forces had entered Dobropillya, Hannivka, Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka, Svitle or Krasnoyarske, placing them 2.2–7.3 km away, and could not confirm the seizure of Myrne. ISW reads these roughly monthly briefings as cognitive warfare to portray Ukrainian lines as collapsing.