MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday hailed his army’s accelerating advance in Ukraine and praised 2024 as a “landmark” year in the course of Moscow’s military offensive on its Western-backed neighbour.
Addressing top military generals in an end-of-year meeting, the Kremlin leader struck a defiant and optimistic tone, claiming his troops had the upper hand across the entire front line.
Putin also hit out at what he called a Western “hybrid war” and its attempts to inflict a “strategic defeat” on Moscow.
The comments come with Russia’s army advancing across eastern Ukraine at their fastest pace since the first weeks of the offensive.
Both Moscow and Kyiv are seeking to improve their position on the battlefield before US President-elect Donald Trump comes to power in January.
The Republican has repeatedly said he could strike a ceasefire in hours, without presenting a plan, and speculation about peace talks is mounting.
Strategic Initiative
“Russian troops are firmly holding the strategic initiative along the entire line of contact,” Putin said in the televised meeting with army bosses and defence ministry officials.
Putin said Russia’s army had seized 189 Ukrainian settlements this year and called 2024 a “landmark year in the achievement of the goals of the special military operation”, using Moscow’s official language for its campaign.
Speaking after Putin at the same meeting, Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov said Russia’s troops had seized a total of almost 4,500 square kilometres (1,737 square miles) of Ukrainian territory this year and were now gaining around 30 square kilometres a day.
He said Ukraine controlled less than one percent of the eastern Lugansk region, and around 25-30 percent of the Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Russia claimed in 2022 to annex all four, despite not having full control over any of them.
Russia’s army said Monday it had captured another small village in the Donetsk region, as part of its latest advance.
AFP analysis of Institute for the Study of War data found that in November Russian troops advanced at their fastest pace since March 2022 — the first full month of the offensive.
US, Allies Warn of Dangerous Expansion
On Monday, ten countries and the EU called North Korea’s growing involvement in the conflict a “dangerous expansion” of the fighting “with serious consequences for European and Indo-Pacific security.”
The foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States and the high representative of the European Union signed the release.
It came after Ukraine said it had killed or wounded at least 30 North Korean troops fighting alongside Russia’s soldiers in the Kursk border region, where Kyiv is mounting an offensive.
The United States, South Korea and Ukraine have accused the North of sending more than 10,000 soldiers to support Russia.
There are fears that Trump could cut US aid, potentially dealing a devastating blow to Ukraine’s ability to hold off Russia’s advance.
Ukraine also faces manpower shortages across the frontlines and is being pressured by Washington to consider lowering its draft age from 25 to 18 to recruit more soldiers.
