Russia continues to actively spread disinformation regarding its victories on the front lines, attempting to coerce Ukraine and Western countries into agreeing to its demands. According to analysts, Russian President Vladimir Putin regularly appears at public events in military uniform to reinforce the illusion of an inevitable victory for Russia, which is an element of the information campaign aimed at pressuring Ukraine and its allies.
This is reported by Kyiv24
Inflated achievements on the front and manipulation of facts
The Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Valery Gerasimov, claimed significant advances by Russian troops, specifically the alleged capture of over 80% of Vovchansk and over 75% of Pokrovsk. However, analysts emphasize that confirmed facts indicate only 34% of Vovchansk and 46% of Pokrovsk, which is significantly less than the official Russian statements. Similarly, reports of control over Kostiantynivka have only partial confirmations in the southeastern part of the city.
Lieutenant General Sergey Medvedev, recently appointed commander of the Southern Group of Russian troops, expressed the intention to capture most of Kostiantynivka by mid-December 2025. Putin, for his part, noted that exact timelines do not matter; however, such statements are viewed as an attempt to present the Russian command as confident in the rapid capture of key Ukrainian positions.
Information pressure and exaggeration of results
Since the end of August 2025, Moscow has intensified propaganda regarding successes in Kupiansk, although independent assessments assert that Ukrainian forces are successfully defending this direction and preventing Russia from achieving significant results. The Russian command actively uses flag-raising on video as evidence of progress, although these actions do not indicate a change in control over territories.
“Some of these territorial gains were made possible due to seasonal weather conditions (fog and rain), which complicated the use of drones by Ukraine, and the pace of the Russian offensive is likely to slow down as weather conditions stabilize. Continued military assistance and funding from Europe for the sale of American weapons to Ukraine will likely enable Ukrainian forces to defend Ukraine’s fortified belt in Donetsk for several years and possibly even reclaim some Russian gains,” the report states.
Overall, according to experts, since August 2025, Russian troops have occupied about 908 square kilometers of additional territory across Ukraine. However, even these limited advances were made possible due to weather conditions that temporarily restricted the use of Ukrainian drones. It is expected that with improved weather, the pace of the Russian offensive will slow down.
Experts also emphasize that Russia is facing increasing difficulties in supplying its army with material and human resources, complicating the maintenance of large-scale offensive operations in the future. In this situation, Moscow seeks to convince Ukraine to abandon critically important territories that Russian troops are unlikely to be able to capture in the near future.
Against this backdrop, discussions continue regarding the conditions of a possible peace plan prepared by the United States with the participation of Russian representatives, but without involving Ukraine and Europe in the development of this document. According to available information, the Biden administration is pressuring Kyiv to agree to the proposed plan by the end of November.
The draft peace agreement, which has come into the possession of journalists, envisions holding elections in Ukraine one hundred days after the signing of the document, enshrining a non-aligned status in the Constitution and abandoning NATO, as well as limiting the size of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which, according to media reports, could be up to 600,000 servicemen.