Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov has found himself at the center of a public scandal within the Russian military blogger community. Several prominent Russian war correspondents and Z-channels directly accused him of lying after he reported to Vladimir Putin about the "complete capture" of the town of Dobropillia and several other settlements in the Donetsk region. This is reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to a post by blogger Alex Parker Returns.
"Complete capture" and "search operations"
According to the source, Gerasimov stated that Dobropillia — one of the key logistical hubs of the Ukrainian defense — was allegedly "liberated" by the troops of the "Center" grouping. In addition, he assured the Kremlin leader that "search operations are underway in the city to identify and destroy individual Ukrainian servicemen hiding in the basements of buildings." Vladimir Putin, in turn, dubbed this a "notable event" which, according to him, paves the way to the borders of the so-called "DPR".
Irony of Z-channels
Russian blogger "Military Informant" reacted with irony to the loud statements of Gerasimov and Putin. "Gerasimov reported on the liberation of Dobropillia, Alekseevo-Druzhkovka, Sergeyevka, and the completion of the destruction of the 2,000-strong UAF group surrounded in the Kharkiv region <...> There is simply no point in analyzing all this," he wrote. Another Z-blogger, Alex Parker Returns, expressed himself even more harshly: "Pypa (Putin — ed.) has been sold another Sviatohirsk and Kupiansk again. This is some kind of disgrace."
Neural network video as "proof"
The bloggers paid special attention to a video fragment published by a Z-channel with reference to the Russian Ministry of Defense, which was supposed to confirm the control of Russian troops over the town. According to users' estimates, the video was created using a neural network — this is indicated, in particular, by the unrealistic behavior of a soldier with a Russian flag. Thus, even within the Russian propaganda segment, Gerasimov's report is perceived as not corresponding to reality.
Kyiv's position
Earlier, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine denied statements about the advance of Russian troops in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, considering them inconsistent with the actual situation at the front. Against this background, as Ukrainian publications note, Vladimir Putin publicly ordered the continuation of massive strikes against Ukraine. The discrepancy between the official reports of the Russian leadership and the assessments of both Kyiv and some Russian military bloggers makes the situation around Dobropillia one of the prominent information conflicts of recent days.
