CNN
The pace of the Russian advance on the front lines has slowed to a crawl, with Putin often resorting to announcing entirely fictional gains, most recently his Ministry of Defense’s claim to have taken the heavily contested Donbas town of Kostyantynivka. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky immediately called Putin’s bluff and offered to meet him there to talk peace.
The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, suggested the Kremlin announcements were intended to convince the White House that Moscow is advancing, and influence any resumption of diplomacy. But claiming a false win is weakness personified.
