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“Take Off Your Clown Noses”: Ukrainian General Films From City Putin Claimed Russia Captured
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![Photo of Vlad Litnarovych]( "Photo of Vlad Litnarovych")
Russian leader Vladimir Putin claimed Russian troops had captured Sviatohirsk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. Days later, Brigadier General Andrii Biletsky responded from the center of the supposedly conquered city itself on September 7.
Biletsky, commander of Ukraine’s Third Army Corps, recorded a video in downtown Sviatohirsk with the Holy Dormition Sviatohirsk Lavra visible behind him, directly rejecting Moscow’s claims that Russian forces had taken control of the city.
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“I want to address the Russian military and military-political leadership. Take off your clown noses and multicolored wigs. Don’t make fools of yourselves. The 60th Mechanized Brigade of the Third Army Corps has full control of the city. In fact, this is our rear area,” Biletsky said.
Ukraine’s military and local authorities have also rejected Russian claims that Sviatohirsk had fallen or that Moscow’s forces had advanced to the immediate outskirts of Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Druzhkivka.
In light of the Russian dictator claiming yet another fictitious military victory, Brigadier General Andriy Biletskyi, commander of Ukraine’s Third Army Corps, posted a video from Sviatohirsk, which Putin and his Defense Ministry declared “liberated” just days ago.
— SPRAVDI — Stratcom Centre (@StratcomCentre) September 7, 2026
There are no… pic.twitter.com/CBc35sg3Gm
The Institute for the Study of War separately concluded that Putin’s latest battlefield assertions remain disconnected from available evidence.
“These claims continue to be divorced from the battlefield reality on the ground,” ISW analysts said.
During a September 1 press conference, Putin claimed Russian forces were accelerating their advance, that the seizure of the Donetsk region was proceeding according to plan, and that Moscow’s troops had captured 15 settlements covering approximately 270 square kilometers during August.
Open-source battlefield evidence paints a significantly different picture.
ISW assessed that Russian forces actually seized about 73.14 square kilometers in the Donetsk region during August. Including areas where Russian troops advanced or infiltrated without necessarily consolidating control, that figure rises to approximately 104.44 square kilometers.
Across the entire theater of operations, ISW assessed that Russian forces consolidated positions in or captured only about 90.35 square kilometers during August—roughly one-third of the territorial gain Putin claimed for the Donetsk region alone.
ISW also described Putin’s assertion that Russia had captured Sviatohirsk as an “extreme claim” unsupported by available battlefield evidence.
At the maximum extent of Russia’s advances earlier this year, Russian troops were still roughly 13 kilometers from Sviatohirsk, according to ISW. Ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive operations around Lyman may have pushed the current Russian line even farther away.
Previously, Russian propaganda outlets claimed Moscow’s forces had captured the village of Mohrytsia in Ukraine’s Sumy region, only for Ukrainian soldiers holding the settlement to respond with a video filmed directly from one of its streets.
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