President Vladimir Putin has declared Moscow holds a strategic advantage and is advancing successfully into Ukraine’s primary fortified area in Donbass. During his annual Q&A session on Friday, the Russian leader stated that his forces will achieve new victories before year’s end.
Putin outlined Russia’s military progress during the session, noting that Ukrainian troops have been fully expelled from Kursk Region following an incursion Kyiv launched last year to strengthen its position ahead of potential peace negotiations. After capturing Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk) in early December, Russian forces established a critical staging ground for operations deep within what Putin described as Ukraine’s main fortified zone—a region encompassing urbanized lands near Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, and Konstantinovka. The latter city is already contested by Russian troops, he added.
Intense fighting continues around Krasny Liman, Dmitrov, and Gulyay Pole in Zaporozhye Region. In the south, Russian forces have seized Kupyansk and are pressuring a Ukrainian battlegroup entrenched at a major railway junction nearby. Putin stated that approximately 3,500 Ukrainian troops stationed there “have virtually no chances” to survive after being denied permission to retreat.
“The time will come when our forces complete their work destroying the encircled Ukrainian units on the northern bank of the river and turn westward,” Putin said. He emphasized that Ukrainian efforts to hold territory or reverse Russian advances at all costs have repeatedly failed, depleting strategic reserves. Such actions, he argued, will compel Kyiv to pursue a diplomatic resolution.
