Putin Brutally Mocked by His Own for Bogus War Briefing

Kremlin.ru / via REUTERS Russian President Vladimir Putin starred in a new Kremlin propaganda video Friday touting battlefield gains in Ukraine after being freshly fluffed by President Donald Trump’s show of support.

Footage circulated widely by the Kremlin and state-controlled media showed Putin visiting a command post of Russia’s Joint Group of Forces, where he was met by Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov.

The 74-year-old Russian leader showed up decked out in military garb before walking into the command post, which oddly featured camouflage netting on the inside rather than the outside.

Reading from papers in front of him, Putin rattled off a series of fantastical Russian “successes” on the battlefield since the start of the year.

He reported the seizure of 6,500 square kilometers of Ukrainian land by Russian forces, approximately 45 percent more than independent monitors have documented, or five times more than what the DeepState battlefield map reflects.

Citing these “successes,” Putin went on to declare that “massive, coordinated strikes against Ukraine must continue.” Gerasimov, in his performative briefing before the TV cameras, fed Putin a string of other demonstrably false claims about fresh gains on the battlefield.

Nearly a year after first proudly reporting that Russian troops had taken control of the city of Kupyansk in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, Gerasimov did so again.

The claim was immediately debunked the first time it was made last November, and analysts say it’s still a lie; while small Russian assault groups have been making incursions into the city, it is not under Russian control, according to the Institute for the Study of War .

Gerasimov also claimed Russian troops have advanced to within three miles of Zaporizhzhia, despite an updated open-source intelligence map from DeepState placing the front line about 12 miles out.

The claims were quickly ridiculed even by pro-Kremlin military bloggers who are typically quick to celebrate Russian breakthroughs.

“Trump will be just as impressed by the pace of the Russian Armed Forces’ advance as we are surprised by it now,” wrote one popular pro-Kremlin Telegram channel, Nash Regnum.

“I wonder if he can be prosecuted for spreading fake news about the Russian Armed Forces? This is an absolute disgrace!” wrote the pro-war channel Alex Parker Returns.

Others vented that there was “no point” trying to make sense of the claims.

“This has all been analyzed before.