Putin assures that his forces have the initiative on ”the entire front line” in Ukraine

Russia has conquered 189 Ukrainian localities in 2024 and has the initiative on “the entire front line”, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday in a speech to the main executives of his Defense Ministry.

“Russian troops have the strategic initiative across the entire line of contact” in Ukraine, he said, demanding “the liberation of 189 localities” during 2024. “I would like to emphasize that the past year has been a pivotal year in terms of achieving the objectives of the special military operation,” he added, using the euphemism required in Russia to refer to the assault on Ukraine.

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Beloussov, who spoke after Mr. Putin, indicated that Russia had taken 4,500 km2 of Ukrainian territory this year, and was currently advancing at “30 km2 per day”.

The minister gave no indication as to Russian losses, a sensitive and classified subject, but claimed to have counted 560,000 soldiers killed or wounded in 2024 and a million since the start of the Russian assault in February 2022. Unverifiable data .

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted last week the deaths of 43,000 soldiers and 370,000 wounded. He estimated Russian losses at 198,000 killed and 550,000 wounded.

Mr. Putin once again accused NATO countries, allies of Ukraine, of posing a threat to Russia. “NATO countries are increasing their military spending. Alliance intervention groups were formed and assembled near Russia’s borders,” he charged.

Minister Andreï Beloussov judged that the Russian army must prepare “for all possible developments in the situation, including the possibility of armed conflict with NATO in Europe in the decades to come”.

Russia rejects the term invasion when it comes to its assault on Ukraine, and believes that its offensive aimed to push back NATO, which kyiv wants to join, and curb an existential threat.

In this context, Vladimir Putin praised the considerable increase in arms production in the country, and called for it to continue. “All issues relating to mass production and deployment of national systems to carry out strikes, including hypersonic systems, must be resolved,” he said.

The master of the Kremlin also indicated that Russian forces were starting to use robotic systems, assisted by AI. “Soldiers are receiving advanced robotic systems, some of which use artificial intelligence technologies” (AI), he said.