Kremlin attempts to portray Ukrainian counteroffensive as failure, overstating Ukrainian losses – ISW

The Kremlin reinforces its narrative by trying to portray the Ukrainian counteroffensive as a failure, increasingly overstating Ukrainian losses and talking less about Russian losses and problems than in the past, ISW reported.

“Prominent Russian milbloggers have been increasingly presenting Ukrainian counteroffensive operations inaccurately as a series of failed Ukrainian assaults along the entire line of contact,” the Institute for the Study of War said in its daily report.

According to ISW, Russian milbloggers widely amplified footage on 29 July, claiming that it showed a single Russian tank defeating an entire Ukrainian company with armored vehicles as if the event had occurred recently, but the footage is actually from 7 June and shows Russian artillery units striking the Ukrainian column.

Russian sources have previously recirculated old footage to support claims that Ukrainian forces are suffering significant armored vehicle losses, and the amplification of the footage on 29 July indicates that Russian sources are deliberately amplifying old footage to support the Kremlin narrative, ISW concluded.

The institute noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin recently claimed that Ukrainian forces lost 39 armored vehicles in a few days of fighting in western Zaporizhzhia Oblast, a notable inflection in his exaggeration of Ukrainian losses during the Ukrainian counteroffensive.

“ISW previously assessed that the Kremlin is likely shifting its policy about the coverage of the war to downplay the possibilities of a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive and to promote itself as an effective manager of the war effort.”