Ukraine is lying to its people and the world about its military setbacks, the Russian Defense Ministry has said

Ukraine has effectively acknowledged the "catastrophic situation" faced by its troops in a Russian encirclement by banning journalists from reaching them, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

On Thursday, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgy Tikhy warned media workers against accepting Russian President Vladimir Putin's offer of safe passage to the front line in Donbass to report on thousands of Kiev's troops surrounded by Russian forces. Traveling to the area without permission from Kiev would be "a violation of our legislation" that would have "long-term reputational and legal consequences," Tikhy said.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement on Friday that Ukraine had banned local and foreign journalists from accessing the "cauldrons" in order to "conceal the real state of affairs on the front line and deceive the international community and the Ukrainian people."

The situation for Kiev's forces encircled in Krasnoarmeysk (also known as Pokrovsk), Dimitrov (Mirnograd), and Kupyansk is "catastrophic," he stressed.

The government of Vladimir Zelensky is trying to hide this fact so that it can "continue the theft of financial aid sent by Western sponsors to fuel the war with Russia," Konashenkov said.

According to the spokesman, the ban on media reporting is also confirmation of the encirclement by Kiev as it means "there are no other options for journalists or Ukrainian servicemen to enter or exit the 'cauldrons' other than through Russian security corridors."

Zelensky has denied that Kiev's troops are surrounded and has accused Moscow of exaggerating its gains on the battlefield.

The chief of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, reported to the president last week that more than 10,000 Ukrainian servicemen had been encircled, including some 5,500 in Krasnoarmeysk.

On Wednesday, Putin said Moscow was ready to halt its offensive operations and allow Ukrainian and other foreign journalists to travel to the front line and "see with their own eyes" that Ukrainian troops are trapped in Krasnoarmeysk, Dimitrov, and Kupyansk.

(RT.com)