The Institute for the Study of War said in its latest assessment that Russia's loss of Donetsk Oblast's Lyman, combined with the Kremlin’s failure to conduct partial mobilization effectively is "fundamentally changing the Russian information space."
Experts stress that the Kremlin-sponsored media and Russian military bloggers are criticizing the bureaucratic failures of the partial mobilization and attributing the defeat around Lyman and Kharkiv Oblast to Russian military failures to properly supply and reinforce Russian forces in northern Donbas.
"Some guests on heavily-edited Kremlin television programs that aired on Oct. 1 even criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to annex four Ukrainian oblasts before securing their administrative borders or even the frontline, expressing doubts about Russia’s ability ever to occupy the entirety of these territories," the ISW said.