Gerasimov tells Putin Russian forces are advancing along the whole front: claims on Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk and Zaporizhzhia

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with the General Staff and group commanders held at an auxiliary command post of the Joint Force that Russian troops are advancing along the entire front and that the pace has increased significantly. The Kremlin published the transcript of the meeting, dated 16 October. All figures below are claims made by the Russian side; no independent body has confirmed them, and Geopolitiki has not found an official Ukrainian response to these specific claims.

Territory claims

Putin said that since the start of the year about 6,500 square kilometres and 310 settlements have been taken, and that just over 10 percent of Donetsk region and 16.5 percent of Zaporizhzhia region remain under Ukrainian government control. He said Luhansk region is entirely under Russian control.

Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov told the meeting that since 1 September Russian formations have taken control of more than 1,800 square kilometres and 92 settlements. He said the main effort is in Donbas, where the Centre, South and West groups are on the offensive. According to Gerasimov, the Centre group has completed the clearing of Dobropillia, while forces of the South group have entered Druzhkivka, reached the outskirts of Kramatorsk and are fighting on the edge of Sloviansk. He also said forward groups in Zaporizhzhia region are within five kilometres of the southern outskirts of Zaporizhzhia city, and that Velykomykhailivka in Dnipropetrovsk region came under Russian control the day before the meeting.

Gerasimov also described what he called a security zone along the Russian-Ukrainian border, extended into parts of Sumy and Kharkiv regions, and said an encircled Ukrainian force of 2,000 in north-eastern Kharkiv region had been eliminated. Putin said Russia’s goal is to secure its border regions and that Moscow does not intend to make this “a subject of potential peace negotiations with Ukraine”.

Strikes and air defence

Gerasimov said Russian forces carried out 12 large-scale strikes in September and October against 30 military-industrial enterprises and logistics centres and 14 fuel, energy and transport sites, naming a 7 October strike on facilities linked to Flamingo cruise missiles and Fire Point drones. He claimed strikes since the start of the campaign on ports and shipping had hit 203 port facilities and 93 vessels, and said large-scale strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have begun.

On Ukrainian drone and missile attacks, Gerasimov said Russian air defences shot down more than 15,000 aerial targets in September, an average of over 500 a day, with 1,398 drones and eight cruise missiles on 19 and 20 September. Putin said the pace of advance had accelerated and described the trend as positive.

Context

Ukraine’s own claims about strikes on Russian territory are in Ukraine: strike on the “Robo Avia” drone plant in Rostov – a railway bridge and a missile brigade depot hit in Bryansk. For the situation around Zaporizhzhia city, see Zaporizhzhia: 20 dead in Russian glide-bomb strike, missiles hit Kyiv after US eases diesel sanctions.