A Russian-backed official has acknowledged that Moscow’s forces have indeed lost control of the village of Robotyne in Ukraine, but stunningly claimed that the settlement was “tactically abandoned.” Ukraine announced last month that it had broken through Russia’s defenses and recaptured the village during its ongoing southward counteroffensive. Although Russia has not officially acknowledged the loss of territory, Yevgeny Balitsky—the Moscow-installed leader of the Zaporizhzhia region—said in a TV interview that Russian forces were no longer there. “The Russian army abandoned—tactically abandoned—this settlement because staying on a bare surface when there is no way to completely dig in... doesn’t generally make sense,” news outlet RBC quoted him as saying. “Therefore the Russian army moved off into the hills.”