The General Staff refuted Gerasimov's claims about Russian advances in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has denied claims by the Russian command that it has allegedly seized more than 1,800 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory and 92 settlements since September 1.
This was stated by Major Andriy Kovalyov, a spokesperson for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
According to him, due to the lack of significant successes on the front lines, the Russian command continues to create the illusion of victories for its political leadership and domestic audience. The latest example was a report by Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation, which was based on lies, manipulation, and exaggerations. This was stated by Dmytro Kovalyov, a spokesperson for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who emphasized that the Ukrainian side has facts that refute the Russian claims.
Gerasimov claimed that since September 1, Russian troops have seized more than 1,800 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory and 92 settlements.
“This is not true. In fact, thanks to the active operations of the Ukrainian Defense Forces since the beginning of fall, more territory has been liberated than the enemy has managed to capture. Similarly, Gerasimov’s statements about the capture of Dobropillia do not correspond to reality. The city remains under Ukrainian control,” Kovalyov noted.
According to him, this is not the first time the Russian leadership has presented its wishes as reality. In particular, on September 1, Vladimir Putin claimed that Svyatogorsk had been captured, though it remains under Ukrainian control.
Kovalyov also refuted claims that Kostiantynivka and Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka had been captured and that Russian troops had advanced to the outskirts of Kramatorsk. As of the morning of October 17, fighting was ongoing in Kostiantynivka, and the Defense Forces’ positions remained in the city. Oleksiyevo-Druzhkivka had also not been captured, and claims of an advance toward Kramatorsk did not correspond to the situation on the front lines.
Claims of an offensive in the suburbs of Sloviansk and Russian control over more than half of Mykolaivka were also not confirmed. According to a spokesperson for the General Staff, a small group of Russian troops had infiltrated the southern outskirts of the city, and the Defense Forces were attempting to eliminate them through strike-and-search operations.
Gerasimov also claimed that there was fighting for Orikhiv and that Novopavlivka and Novoandriivka had been captured. However, as of October 17, all three settlements remained under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
In addition, Kovalyov refuted claims that Russian troops had advanced to within 5 km of the southern outskirts of Zaporizhzhia. According to him, the front line had been approximately 22 km from the city for quite some time.
The spokesperson also called claims about the capture of Velyka Mykhailivka in the Dnipropetrovsk region yet another fabrication. As of October 17, the settlement remained under Ukrainian control, and the front line ran 8 km east of it.
As a reminder, on October 16 and during the night of October 17, 2026, units of the Ukrainian Defense Forces struck a number of Russian military logistics facilities. In particular, near the town of Sloboda-Seletskaya in the Bryansk Oblast of the Russian Federation, a railway bridge across the Unecha River was reported to have been destroyed.
Over the past 24 hours, on October 16, there were 238 combat engagements on the front lines in Ukraine. The Ukrainian military repelled the most attacks in the Pokrovsk direction, where Russian troops attempted to advance near several settlements simultaneously.
On Friday, October 16, Russian terrorist forces lost 1,950 soldiers on the front lines. Thus, the enemy’s total combat losses since the start of the full-scale invasion now stand at 1,562,970 personnel.
