Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the pace of his troops' advance in 2024 on Monday. Ukrainian forces are gradually losing ground, at a pace that has accelerated since the fall. Russian soldiers are now at the gates of Pokrovsk, a large mining city and logistics hub in the east of the country.
“Russian troops have the strategic initiative across the entire line of contact,” he assured in a speech to the main executives of his Ministry of Defense. He claimed the “liberation”, according to the vocabulary used by Russia to designate the capture of Ukrainian towns and villages, “of 189 localities” during 2024.
“2024, a pivotal year”
“I would like to emphasize that the past year was a pivotal year in terms of achieving the objectives,” he added. Russian Defense Minister Andrei Beloussov, for his part, indicated that Russia had conquered 4,500 km2 of Ukrainian territory this year.
It advanced over 725 km2 during the month of November. This is its largest territorial gain in a month since March 2022 and the first weeks of its large-scale assault, according to an analysis using data from the American Institute for the Study of War. The previous record dated from the previous month, then 478 km2. According to Andreï Beloussov, it would currently gain “30 km2 per day”, or a projection of 930 km2 in December. Ukraine has an area of more than 600,000 km2 of which Russia controls nearly 20%, including Crimea.
Our file on the war in Ukraine
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. He also indicated that Russian forces were beginning to use systems assisted by Artificial Intelligence.
