Syrsky: Russian Maps Show False Advances to Please Top Command
Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Russian military reporting often exaggerates advances, with settlements marked as captured even after small assault groups are pushed back. He said Ukraine has a stronger real-time understanding of the battlefield and benefits from Moscow’s distorte
Kyiv Post
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Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Russia can only be forced to change course when the consequences of the war reach its own territory and Russian society begins to feel the cost directly.
In an exclusive interview with TSN journalist Yevhen Plinsky, Syrsky discussed Ukraine’s battlefield strategy, the pressure campaign against Russia’s oil sector, the threat from Belarus, military reforms, medical evacuation, and the challenge of rotating troops on the front line.
At the start of the full-scale invasion, Ukraine still hoped that showing Russians the truth about Moscow’s war could shock them into opposing it. But according to Syrsky, that approach has not worked.
Ukraine has since shifted to other tools – economic pressure, isolation, and the gradual “bleeding” of Russia’s oil sector.
“I think this is the most effective way,” Syrsky said, referring to economic and social shocks inside Russia. “It is when the war comes to their territory, when they feel the realities of this war on their own skin.”
According to Ukraine’s top commander, only then does part of Russian society begin to understand that the war is not just propaganda on television, but a serious crisis affecting daily life, security and basic supplies.
“And this is already working,” Syrsky stressed. “We see how the mood of the population is changing, how criticism of their leadership, and of Putin personally, is increasing many times over. We also see many more calls to stop this so-called ‘special military operation.’”
The Strategic Unmanned Systems Partnership Act would create a US-Ukraine working group to co-develop, co-produce and rapidly acquire Ukrainian unmanned systems.
Ukraine has leveled the battlefield
Asked about Russia’s military command and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, Syrsky compared the war to a chess match – but one Ukraine began with fewer pieces.
“If we compare this to a chess game, we started this game with fewer forces and means on the battlefield. The enemy outnumbered us in almost everything.”
Despite Russia’s initial advantage, Ukraine has managed to level the fight.
“Despite their overall, total superiority, we managed to equalize our forces,” the commander-in-chief stressed.
He attributed that success to the courage, resilience and heroism of Ukrainian soldiers, as well as stronger command systems and reforms carried out during the war, including Ukraine’s ongoing corps reform.
Syrsky said Ukraine is expanding its unmanned systems forces and strengthening the drone component across many units. In some cases, unmanned systems battalions have already been expanded into regiments, significantly increasing their combat capabilities.
Russian maps show false advances
The commander-in-chief said Ukraine receives battlefield information almost in real time and maintains constant control over key sections of the front.
“We constantly monitor the situation, constantly clarify the position, look at the map and examine in detail everything that is happening,” he said.
Syrsky argued that Ukraine has a major advantage over Russia in the speed and quality of battlefield information. Ukrainian commanders can also see how Russian maps often show results that do not exist.
According to him, Russian units have a known method of exaggerating gains: if three soldiers enter the outskirts of a settlement, even if they are later pushed out, the report may still mark the area as entered – and Russian maps may then color the settlement as captured.
He described this as a characteristic feature of Russian headquarters, from grouping-level command up to the General Staff, where commanders create a distorted picture for themselves.
“And it is good for us that this is the case,” Syrsky added.
Russia counts losses but does not value life
Syrsky said Russia’s military leadership is aware of its real losses, but treats them with a very different mindset from Ukraine.
“They have a huge resource,” he said, pointing to Russia’s mobilization base, prisoners used as manpower, and foreign mercenaries as additional sources for replenishing the army.
According to Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, Moscow does not value human life, which allows Russian commanders to treat massive casualties as acceptable.
“More losses, fewer losses – they treat this quite calmly,” Syrsky said. “These are indicators that do not provoke emotion in them.”
At the same time, he stressed that Russia inflates Ukrainian losses “many times over,” while Ukraine sees the real picture on the battlefield.
Ukraine targets Crimea logistics to bleed Russia’s war machine
Ukraine’s detailed planning, stronger battlefield efficiency and rising Russian losses on key frontline sectors are beginning to wear down Moscow’s forces.
“We can state that certain signs of its exhaustion are being observed,” Syrsky noted.
Asked about Ukraine’s strikes on southern logistics routes and the apparent isolation of occupied Crimea, the commander-in-chief described the campaign as part of a broader effort to weaken Russia’s ability to move troops, ammunition and fuel.
“A whole complex of measures is being carried out to weaken and paralyze logistics, prevent the transfer of troops to certain sections of the front, disrupt the delivery of ammunition, and destroy ammunition and fuel depots in tactical and operational depth,” Syrsky explained.
The goal, he added, is to paralyze Russian rear operations, disrupt Moscow’s operational groupings and break Russia’s strategic and operational-strategic transport routes.
“This is the entire complex of measures that the Armed Forces, and the Defense Forces as a whole, are carrying out,” he concluded.
Belarus threat remains on Ukraine’s radar
Syrsky also addressed the possible threat from Belarus, whose territory Russia used at the start of the full-scale invasion.
“We must take into account all options, even the worst-case scenarios,” he said.
According to him, Putin has ordered the Russian General Staff to calculate different options for offensive operations, including from Belarusian territory, with the aim of capturing Kyiv or other Ukrainian regions.
However, Syrsky said he does not currently believe Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko would dare to allow Belarusian territory to be used again as a launchpad for a Russian offensive.
“At the same time, of course, we take this option into account,” he added.
The more realistic threat, according to Syrsky, is a possible Russian offensive from the north – from Russia’s Bryansk region toward Chernihiv region. Such an operation would likely aim to seize territory, push deeper into Ukraine, and force Kyiv to divert troops from more important frontline directions, including areas where Ukrainian forces are conducting active operations.
“Why should we show our cards?”
Asked what Ukraine lacks on the battlefield to fight more strategically, Syrsky declined to reveal specific gaps.
“The enemy is also watching. Why should we show our cards?” he said.
He acknowledged that Ukraine always needs more, but emphasized that the country has enough of what matters most.
“We have enough resilience, enough will and enough desire to win,” the commander-in-chief said. “Those are probably our strong sides.”
Better training, fewer losses
Syrsky stressed that constant tactical adaptation is what allows Ukrainian forces to stay ahead of a larger enemy.
“We have a higher qualification of our servicemen compared to the enemy,” he said, noting that Ukrainian troops consistently prove it in close combat.
For Ukraine’s top commander, superior training is not only about battlefield success – it is about bringing soldiers home alive, a priority clearly missing in Moscow.
“The better we prepare them, the better result they will have with fewer losses,” Syrsky emphasized.
