Sviatohirsk.
The situation is generally interesting, where the enemy increasingly tries to “appear” rather than “be.” And by doing so, they close off the window for negotiations along the existing line. This leads to the following consequences:
1) The reality of the front line becomes secondary to Russian generals. What matters is how you report it, and how the higher leadership evaluates it before they replace you rotationally with the next commander. All these inconsistencies become the headache for the next command. If you do everything right during your rotation, you leave with the title of Hero of Russia, as was with Kup’yansk.
2) No one can punish Russian generals for this because the General Staff currently has a single loyal faction of Gerasimov, and there are no alternatives. To punish one means you’d have to punish everyone for lies in the reports. And this is the only faction that fully supports Putin because they are in the same boat. He relies on them, so he turns a blind eye.
3) It is impossible to stop fighting on the existing line because each side has its line. Allowing the Russians the OSCE on the existing line and explaining to them that the demarcation should be 10-15 km behind the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ lines, just because they drew a map, is a technical dead end that neither the Ukrainian Armed Forces will accept, nor will international partners understand.
This sometimes creates interesting situations on the front. Like with the “trinity,” where in one day in March 2026, mechanized columns unexpectedly attacked (which the “trinity” took down with drones). According to intercepts, there was a change of command on this front, entering along with some reserves.
When the Russian generals realized how much they were lied to about this line by their predecessors, they organized assaults to bring the map situation closer to some reality. Reality arrived with UAVs and cut down the reserves. This became known, and the internet is full of videos showing the destruction of a column and Russian soldiers. So what did the Russian generals from this direction do afterward? Correct, they organized several more assaults and infiltration activations. Units of the “trinity,” 20th, and 66th brigades participated in the challenge, and the line indeed began to move, but in the opposite direction.
You know the result. It will soon be official.
In other words, false reports are an anchor in peace negotiations. On the other hand, this trend leads to increased enemy losses in attempts to storm and reconcile desire with reality.
But the situation with Sviatohirsk became a very vivid marker of how deeply this system is entangled in lies.
Photo: Free Radio
