Russia’s Top General Faces Ridicule Over Luhansk Victory Claim

(MOSCOW, RUSSIA) – Top Russian military commander Valery Vasilyevich Gerasimov is facing an extraordinary domestic backlash after claiming the full liberation of Ukraine’s Luhansk region. The assertions were met not with celebration in Moscow but with ridicule and pointed rebuttals from prominent Russian military bloggers and even pro war propagandists.

Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, stated that during March and April Russian troops had liberated 34 settlements covering approximately 700 square kilometres of territory. He further claimed that since the start of the year, 80 settlements and more than 1,700 square kilometres had been brought under control. The liberation of the Luhansk People’s Republic has been fully completed, Gerasimov was quoted as saying in a statement publicised by the Stratcom Centre.

The declarations echo identical claims made repeatedly by the Russian military command dating back to 2022. Russian military bloggers, often referred to as Z bloggers for their support of the conflict, reacted with derision. One popular channel highlighted that identical statements regarding the complete capture of Luhansk have been made multiple times since 2025 and as far back as the initial stages of the full scale invasion.

The divide between the reality on the ground and what the Kremlin wants the Russian population to believe continues to widen, one analyst noted. The reaction inside Russia suggests that Gerasimovs latest statements are being dismissed as inventions of a reality designed to placate the Kremlin and manage an increasingly fatigued domestic audience.

In a significant development underscoring the internal pessimism, one of Russias more prominent military bloggers delivered a stark assessment of the war effort, footage of which was circulated by the Professor Gerdes Explains channel. Yes, we are failing, the blogger admitted in a translated segment. The enemy has mobilised its meagre resources. It switched to unmanned technology and is striving with all its might for robot war.

The blogger, who advocates for a full scale mobilisation, warned that Russia would be unable to break the back of Ukraine. He contrasted Ukraines total commitment to technological warfare with Russias state of limbo, where the army is fighting, but everyone else could not care less. He concluded that Ukraine is preparing to win this standoff while Russia remains mired in indecision.

Further criticism was levelled at the Ministry of Defence regarding its inability to protect sovereign Russian territory. Another military blogger, cited in the video regarding a strike on Tuapse, stated it was obvious that neither the current air defence system nor the Ministry of Defence are able to cope with the mass and regularity of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian territory.

These domestic admissions of failure align with reports of systematic recruitment difficulties within the Russian Federation. According to details provided in the video analysis, officials are attempting to avoid the issues of open mobilisation until at least September when parliamentary elections are scheduled. To prevent public discontent, authorities have reportedly established a multilayered system of covert recruitment.

Currently, about 1,000 people sign contracts every day, which is roughly 200 fewer than a year ago. The analysis indicates this is becoming a systemic trend, signalling that the pool of people willing to die in Ukrainian tree lines is drying up and that recruitment for money no longer yields sufficient results. Efforts to compel student enlistment and the formation of mobile fire groups under the guise of infrastructure protection have been described as a trial run to create a trained reserve without declaring a politically damaging full mobilisation.

Even Russian propagandists are now openly characterising the situation as deadlocked. The analysis concludes with the observation that while Russia keeps sending truckloads of people to the front, Ukraine sends truckloads of FPV drones, creating an impenetrable drone wall.

The statements regarding the military situation were analysed in a video published by the Professor Gerdes Explains YouTube channel.