A US think tank says Russian President Vladimir Putin has significantly exaggerated claims of his country’s advances in eastern Ukraine.
A report published by the Institute for the Study of War on Saturday states that Russia’s claimed seizure does not match battlefield realities.
Russia announced on Friday that it had captured the important city of Kostyantynivka in the eastern region of Donetsk. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied the claim on Saturday.
The report says Putin is trying to construct a narrative of continuous Russian military successes.
It explains that Russia’s defense ministry and other Russian sources are publishing large quantities of footage that may be AI-altered to falsely confirm Russian exaggerated claims and complicate individual footage verification.
It also argues that neither Ukrainian nor Russian forces advanced on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on social media on Saturday that over the past month, eight oil refineries in Russia have been successfully targeted. It also said more than 60 storage tanks have been destroyed or critically damaged.
The Ukrainian General Staff says Russia’s total losses to the oil industry have reached 13.5 billion dollars over nearly one year since August 2025.
Observers say both countries are trying to maintain public morale by emphasizing their battlefield successes as the situation reaches a stalemate.