Today, the head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian federation, Valery Gerasimov, presented the results of Russia’s summer offensive. However, the most notable aspect of his presentation was the front line map displayed in the background.

OSINT analyst D’Mithridates drew attention to important discrepancies between the map used by the Russian General Staff and the actual front line configuration.

The analyst compared the Russian General Staff’s map with a map produced by the Ukrainian monitoring project Deepstate, which is widely considered to be the most accurate representation of the situation on the ground. The comparison revealed that the Russian military designates areas as being under their full control that are, in reality, either within the “gray zone” – territory not fully controlled by either side – or areas where Russian reconnaissance or sabotage groups have briefly operated.

Specifically, the Russian General Staff’s map indicates Russian control over the southern outskirts of Pokrovsk, despite the fact that only small groups of Russian saboteurs briefly penetrated the area in july, and were subsequently killed or captured. The map also shows Russian control over the entire area of the Russian breakthrough at Dobropol, even though Ukrainian forces have partially cut off this wedge, inflicting heavy losses on the Russian attackers.

“It appears that for the General Staff [ВС РФ],wherever a Russian soldier is spotted,Russia declares control there,” writes D’Mithridates.

War in Ukraine: the latest news

Russian forces are increasingly employing “invisibility cloaks” at the front, which mask thermal radiation from the body. These cloaks, used by Russian sabotage groups attempting to infiltrate Ukrainian positions, make it more challenging to detect them with infrared cameras.

It has also been reported that Russia has amassed a force of over 100,000 personnel near Pokrovsk, with plans to launch an offensive to capture the city as part of its autumn-winter campaign.

You may also be interested in the news: