Putin claimed to encircle Ukrainian troops on river that doesn't exist
Russian President Vladimir Putin (photo: Getty Images)
Russian President Vladimir Putin fabricated the "encirclement" of Ukrainian Armed Forces units near Stary Oskol, confusing a river with a city near Belgorod. The Ukrainian military responded to the Kremlin leader's statement, the Joint Forces Task Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported.
The military said that, as of now, they are only working on advancing in that direction. Reports of an "encirclement" are yet another Kremlin fake.
"We are convinced that the head of Russia knows the combat capability of his troops better than we do, so we suggest treating the battles for Stary Oskol as an announcement on his part," the statement said.
The Russian president's geographical mistake
Putin claimed that Russian forces had supposedly almost blocked a Ukrainian grouping "on the left bank of the Stary Oskol River." In reality, no river with that name exists.
Stary Oskol on the map (photo: t.me/Joint_Forces_Task_Force)
Stary Oskol is a city in Russia's Belgorod region, located more than 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
The Kremlin leader likely confused the city with the Oskil River, which flows through the Kharkiv region, where fighting is currently taking place.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War said that Vladimir Putin is deliberately creating the illusion of Russian military success and exaggerating the failures of Ukraine's Defense Forces. According to the experts, the Kremlin leader is trying to justify continuing the war in this way.
Putin also commented on the summit with US President Donald Trump in Alaska. His statement effectively confirmed that the Kremlin's previous claims about the outcome of the meeting were not true.
In addition, the Russian leader was forced to comment on the worsening fuel shortage in occupied Crimea.
