If they say that they have taken Kupiansk and have not abandoned this narrative, then they have to draw a map showing that Kupiansk has already been taken, and therefore they are advancing somewhere further,
said Viktor Tregubov, spokesperson for the Joint Forces Operation.
Russian military officials have contradicted themselves in their statements regarding Ukrainian settlements they claim to have captured, according to an analysis of recent front-line reports. Because of previous false claims, Russian military officials are now forced to show advances on their maps that do not actually exist on the ground.
Zero New Settlement Claims in November
The Russian Defense Ministry and its military groupings did not announce the alleged capture of a single new Ukrainian settlement during the first eight days of November, breaking with a pattern of frequent territorial claims in previous months according to an analysis by Militarnyi published on November 9, 2026, according to UNITED24 Media.
In October, for the second consecutive month, Ukraine gained more territory than Russia, and Russian forces suffered their highest monthly casualty toll — more than 54,000 killed or seriously wounded — of the war, according to @TheStudyofWar. https://t.co/5oAq7gzZRd
The last such Russian announcement came on October 28, when the North grouping claimed it had captured Alisivka in the Kharkiv region and Barilivka in the Sumy region.
Two days earlier, on October 26, the Russian Defense Ministry stated that troops from the Vostok grouping had taken the village of Soniachne in the Zaporizhzhia region. Before these pauses, Moscow had regularly issued statements claiming the seizure of Ukrainian settlements across multiple sectors of the front line.
Meanwhile, Russian Telegram channel Two Majors noted a shift in reporting. 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,
Two Majors wrote in its weekly summary on Sunday.
Two Majors suggested this silence could stem from cold weather complicating combat operations or a secret reassessment by the Russian army command regarding front-line configurations due to excessive false reports of success from the field. President Vladimir Putin’s strategy appears focused on winning the war through bombing and forcing Ukraine into surrender by making life in its cities unbearable, while large-scale offensives and widespread casualties achieve little.
Every 29 seconds – minus one occupier Over the past day, russian invasion units lost 2 980 troops killed and seriously wounded. That is more than the combined personnel of six crews of the cruiser Moskva, and the highest daily losses russia has suffered since the start of the… pic.twitter.com/z8SseCPWzZ
Front-Line Reality Versus Maps
According to Tregubov, when occupiers announce the capture of a city, they continue showing it as under their control and try to portray further advances as if Ukrainian settlements had long since been left behind. This leads to absurd situations where small groups reach locations that then appear on maps far behind the front line as if deep in the rear. Tregubov emphasized that Russian territorial claims should not be taken as proof of actual control, noting that the genuine situation must be assessed using data from the front lines and independent maps like DeepState rather than propaganda reports.
Even Russian military bloggers have expressed doubts regarding assertions that Ukrainian forces are encircled in the Kharkiv region. As of November 1, 2026, total Russian losses since the start of the full-scale invasion reached approximately 1,590,270 troops, with the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reporting an additional 2,100 personnel lost in a single 24-hour period alongside numerous equipment pieces and nearly a thousand drones.
Front-line engagements also saw soldiers from the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade neutralize a Russian soldier using a drone equipped with a net launcher, while Ukrainian Defense Forces struck the Kamensky plant in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, Rostov Oblast, Russia, a facility producing solid rocket fuel for the Russian military-industrial complex.
As Militarnyi analysis notes, the pause in territorial announcements coincides with ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive operations. In October, Ukraine’s Third Army Corps completed the Vivaldi offensive operation in the Lyman sector, regaining control of 277 square kilometers of territory and 16 settlements across four phases. The final phase of this operation, which ran from late May through October, successfully retook Zelena Dolyna, Lypove, and Kolodiazi in the Donetsk region alongside 101 square kilometers of territory.
NEW: A prominent Russian milblogger noted that the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) has recently issued fewer claims of Russian forces seizing settlements in Ukraine. Neither Russian nor Ukrainian forces advanced on November 9. (1/2) pic.twitter.com/OE40Gqf54k
Ukraine's Air Assault Forces conducted an offensive operation in the Oleksandrivka direction starting January 29, 2026, covering parts of the Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions. According to the Air Assault Forces Command and President Volodymyr Zelensky, these operations successfully liberated over 800 square kilometers of territory in the Oleksandrivka sector throughout 2026.
Prior assessments from the Institute for the Study of War indicated that since September, Russian forces suffered a net loss of 241 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory, reflecting Ukrainian gains surpassing Russian advances.
Earlier coverage: Russian Military Reports Contradict Reality of Kupyansk Control
