Russia claimed to have captured Svyatogorsk, but the city remains under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces
Russia has once again claimed to have captured Svyatogorsk in the Donetsk region. At the same time, the city remains under the full control of the Ukrainian military, and the ISW has identified the actual location of Russian forces.
ISW analysts estimated that in early summer, the nearest Russian army units were located 13 kilometers from Svyatogorsk.
Following a counteroffensive by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Russian defense line retreated even further from the city.
How Propaganda Tried to Pass Off Wishful Thinking as Fact
On September 5, Russian propagandists attempted to show supposedly “fresh” footage of control over Svyatogorsk. In reality, these were old, edited video clips.
That same day, one of the Russian military bloggers debunked this footage. He admitted that the occupiers weren’t even anywhere near the city.
Why fake reports harm the occupiers themselves
The ISW explained that the systematic production of “flattering reports” for senior leadership hinders the occupiers’ own combat operations:
brigades and regiments plan maneuvers based on a false map of the front;
this leads to operational errors and additional casualties among personnel.
Meanwhile, Pavlo Palisa, deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, spoke about a new deadline that the Kremlin has set for its military.
According to him, Russia’s political leadership demands the complete occupation of the Donetsk region by the end of 2026, while the military itself is requesting that this deadline be extended to March 31, 2027.
This is reported with reference to a report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
More than a thousand people still live in the Svyatogorsk community.
Andriy Biletsky, commander of the Third Army Corps, recorded a video message directly from Svyatogorsk. He stated that the city remains under the control of the Ukrainian military, thereby refuting claims by Russian leadership that the town had allegedly been captured.
Biletsky denied that Svyatogorsk had been captured by the Russians.
