Kremlin intensifying propaganda effort, says ISW, because actual advances are ‘limited and slow relative to high losses incurred’. What we know on day 1,287
The influential Russian war observers known as “milbloggers” have rounded on the defence ministry and the army chief Gen Valery Gerasimov for exaggerating battlefield progress in Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Gerasimov claimed on 30 August that Russian forces had seized 3,500 sq km of territory and 149 settlements since March 2025. “ISW has observed evidence to assess that Russian forces had gained only roughly 2,346 sq km of Ukrainian territory and seized 130 settlements” in that time, said the US thinktank.
The ISW said Russia’s “territorial gains remain disproportionately limited and slow relative to the high losses incurred”, and because of this the Kremlin was intensifying a propaganda campaign to influence western decision-making: accusing European states of prolonging the war, making nuclear threats, and claiming that Russian victory in Ukraine is inevitable.
Russia is believed to have jammed the GPS signal of a plane carrying the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, over Bulgaria, write Jennifer Rankin and Oliver Holmes. The plane landed safely anyway. The commission deputy spokesperson Arianna Podestà said the Bulgarian authorities suspected Russia: “Of course, we are aware and used to … the threats and intimidations that are a regular component of Russia’s hostile behaviour.” Interference with satellite navigation has become increasingly common in airspace near Russia, especially since its full-scale war on Ukraine.
