Russia’s Joint Group of Forces is pushing its “non-stop offensive” on almost all sections of the front line, he said at a Russian Defense Ministry briefing on Saturday.

“An analysis of the state of Ukrainian troops shows that in the spring and summer, the enemy concentrated all its efforts on slowing down our offensive, while suffering heavy losses.”

“As a result, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are forced to transfer the most combat-ready units from one crisis direction to another to ‘plug holes’. Today, the strategic initiative is entirely with the Russian troops,” he added.

The offensive is accompanied by regular “massive” strikes on Ukrainian arms manufacturing facilities, Gerasimov added.

“During the spring-summer period, such strikes were carried out against 76 important facilities,” he said.

“Targeted massive fire strikes continue exclusively against military facilities and military-industrial complex facilities in Ukraine.”

According to Axios, U.S. officials have grown increasingly impatient with European leaders, whom they allege are pushing Ukraine to hold out for a “better deal.”

“The Europeans don’t get to prolong this war and backdoor unreasonable expectations, while also expecting America to bear the cost,” a senior White House official told Axios.

“If Europe wants to escalate this war, that will be up to them. But they will be hopelessly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.”

Trump is also considering whether to step back from diplomatic efforts until one or both sides demonstrates greater flexibility, a White House official told Axios.

“We are going to sit back and watch. Let them fight it out for a while and see what happens,” the official added.

While U.S. officials reportedly “sit back and watch,” Moscow has unrelented in its attacks on Ukraine. Just two days prior, Russia launched a large-scale aerial strike on Ukrainian cities on Aug. 28. Twenty-five people, including four children, were killed in Kyiv.

The Trump administration has increasingly taken a “both sides” approach in its rhetoric regarding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Most recently, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt drew a comparison between Russia’s attacks on civilians with Ukraine’s strikes on legitimate military targets.

Despite months of U.S.-led diplomatic efforts, Trump has not taken any concrete steps to pressure Moscow to stop fighting, while his administration paused military aid and intelligence sharing to Ukraine at various points. Trump himself publicly criticized President Volodymyr Zelensky but welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin to American shores, rolling out the red carpet for him in Anchorage, Alaska just earlier this month.

The White House has also asked the U.S. Treasury Department to prepare a list of sanctions that Europe could impose on Russia, Axios reported. The list includes a total ban on Russian oil and gas purchases and EU tariffs on India and China, similar to those already levied by the U.S.

The European Union is already preparing more sanctions against Russia, however, and has imposed 18 sanctions packages since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The Trump administration, on the other hand, has yet to impose sanctions on Russia and even temporarily lifted sanctions to facilitate the Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska on Aug. 15.

The potential deal is an attempt to keep a pledge not to send the U.S. military to Ukraine, while also serving as a deterrent against potential future Russian aggression.

Since taking office, Trump has pledged to broker a swift peace agreement in Ukraine while reducing the scope of U.S. involvement in the war.

The focus for such U.S. contractors appears to be on helping to build new defenses and securing U.S. business interests in Ukraine, such as those that the much-vaunted mineral deal aims to facilitate.

The deal in progress also entails the deployment of European soldiers in a buffer zone near the Russian border. Another 30,000 European soldiers may be deeper in Ukraine as a further deterrent force.

European soldiers would also likely take part by coming to western Ukraine to train Ukrainian soldiers. Turkey would participate in the deal as envisioned by providing a naval security force in the Black Sea, critical to Ukrainian exports like grain and sunflower oil, the Telegraph reported.

Russia seems unlikely to sign off on any such security guarantee, as it has repeatedly ruled out the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine as part of a potential peace accord.