ISW: Putin's Statements Sound Like Delusions

The Kremlin has completely lost touch with reality.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin claimed that in September, Russian troops seized more than 1,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory, but the actual data tells a different story.

This was reported by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Putin claimed that in September, the Russian army captured 1,301 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory. According to him, this is 2.5 times more than the territorial gains Russia reported in previous months.

However, an analysis of the situation on the front lines conducted by the ISW reveals a very different picture.

“Putin’s claims about the successes of Russian forces on the front lines in September 2026 are so far removed from reality that they resemble hallucinations,” the report states.

According to the institute, Russian forces suffered net territorial losses of 80.81 square kilometers in September.

In other words, this is not a case of capturing more than 1,300 square kilometers, as Putin claimed, but rather the opposite—by the end of the month, the Russian army had lost more territory than it had gained.

Analysts also separately accounted for instances where Russian forces advanced in certain areas but were unable to establish control over them. Even with this approach, the result remains contrary to the Kremlin’s statements.

Taking these incursions into account, the net territorial losses of Russian forces in September totaled 175.18 square kilometers, notes the ISW.

What Is the Kremlin’s Goal

The institute believes that Putin’s statements paint a distorted picture of the hostilities. According to analysts, they create the impression of a supposedly large-scale Russian offensive spanning the entire front.

The ISW described such claims as part of the Kremlin’s cognitive warfare, aimed at portraying the Russian offensive as significantly larger than it actually is.

At the same time, analysts emphasized that they cannot assess whether Putin is aware that the figures he has cited do not match the actual situation. The ISW speculates that the dictator may simply be receiving distorted data on the course of the hostilities.

According to analysts, this may be linked to a culture of concealing failures and presenting leadership with favorable information, which, in their assessment, is deeply ingrained in the Russian military command structure.

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