Russia goes quiet on claims of territorial wins, starts bragging about air-strikes on Ukrainian cities instead (Ukraine Battlefield update, Day 1,719)
Russian Z-channels have stopped reporting on movements along the contact lines, instead publishing lists of cities struck by Russian drones and missiles.
On the battlefield, the Ukrainian army has brought Russians to a standstill, but Ukrainian cities face serious problems as a result of Russian air strikes.
This is also reflected in how Russian Z-channels report on the war.
Information on movements along the front line has almost completely disappeared, replaced by a daily list of Ukrainian cities struck by Russian drones and missiles.
This does not mean the Russian army has stopped attacking on the ground.
Ukrainian soldiers report the exact opposite, but it appears Russian president Vladimir Putin’s strategy is to win the war through bombing and by forcing Ukraine to surrender via making life in cities unbearable.
Large-scale offensives and widespread casualties are achieving little . “The week at the front was marked by trench warfare and a struggle over logistics. Significantly, the Russian defence ministry’s weekly summary did not report the capture of any populated area,” Russian Telegram channel Two Majors wrote in its weekly summary on Sunday.
Until recently, the Kremlin had published daily updates of land capture, even when the evidence to support this was lacking.
Sometimes, such reports were based solely on “flag operations” by individuals who allowed themselves to be filmed by a drone camera, only to be killed or captured shortly afterwards.
Two Majors speculated that the Kremlin's silence may be due to cold weather complicating combat operations, but another possible explanation is more interesting.
The channel said that the Russian army command was secretly reassessing the configuration of the front line because too many false reports of success had come in from the field.
The explanation is certainly not a halt to the Russian offensive.
Roman Pataj is Head of the Opinion section at Denník N and, since 2022, the author of the Ukrainian Battlefield update. He graduated in political science and has worked as a journalist since 2002.
