Russia claims its troops have controlled the entire Luhansk Oblast in Ukraine since Sunday.
The city of Lysychansk was conquered.
The Ukrainian government disagrees.
Neither of the two claims can be verified from the outside.
However, Kyiv also admits that the military situation in the region is very difficult for its troops.
Sooner or later, what Moscow is already claiming will probably happen.
That would be an undeniable success for the invaders.
But if the Ukrainian side managed to withdraw as many of their own soldiers as possible from the city in an orderly manner, the strategic damage would be limited.
Russia has suffered great losses
Minimizing one's own personnel losses must have priority for those who were attacked anyway.
This is the only way they can hope to reconquer the conquered areas one day.
According to all that is known, Russia has suffered great losses for comparatively small successes.
The human resources of the huge country are theoretically large.
But it was the best-trained troops that were used in the initial stages of the war against Ukraine.
This no longer applies to all those who now fill up the thinned ranks as a reserve.
This and the prospect of further arms deliveries from the West make the Ukrainian statements about its own offensives in the future seem less utopian.