ISW: Putin used Trump call to push distorted battlefield picture on Ukraine

Filed 3h ago · Via NV · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

The Path of the Goblin King

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Prime Minister's Office, Government of India · GODL-India · via Wikimedia Commons

The Institute for the Study of War says Vladimir Putin used a Sept. 8 call with President Trump to present a distorted account of the war, aiming to pressure Ukraine into accepting Russian terms. Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said the call followed up on meetings between Putin and U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner earlier in the week.

ISW notes Putin's own understanding of the war is shaped by his military's habitual exaggeration of Russian gains, and that Kremlin officials repeated the same claims after the call while pushing for Ukrainian capitulation. The institute says Russia's negotiating stance hasn't shifted since a November 2025 peace framework favorable to Moscow, even as the battlefield has moved toward Ukraine since.

Kushner had earlier told Kyiv the U.S. wanted a lasting peace, and Russia and Ukraine agreed to pause strikes on each other's capitals through Sept. 7 during the envoys' visits.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

A fellow who's been fed bad numbers by his own people for years is not exactly the source you want briefing anybody on the state of a war. When the other side's battlefield facts have to be laundered twice before they reach the phone, you'd think somebody on this end would ask for a receipt.

Source: Read the original at NV → Scored: The Path of the Goblin King · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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