Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russian forces have seized almost 5,000 square kilometres (1,930 square miles) of territory in Ukraine so far in 2025, asserting that Moscow now holds “full strategic initiative” in the more than three-and-a-half-year war.
Speaking at a meeting with senior military commanders near St. Petersburg on his 73rd birthday, Putin said Russian troops had “liberated” 4,900 square kilometres of land and taken control of 212 localities since the beginning of the year.
The territory captured amounts to nearly 1% of Ukraine’s total land area, bringing the overall portion under Russian control to about 20%.
“At this time, the Russian armed forces fully hold the strategic initiative,” Putin told commanders, according to a Kremlin transcript. “Ukrainian forces are retreating throughout the line of combat contact, despite attempts at fierce resistance.”
Putin also claimed that Kyiv’s attempts to strike deep into Russian territory “will not change the situation on the battlefield.”
Russia’s Defence Ministry on Tuesday announced the capture of two more villages along the front line, which Ukraine’s top commander says now stretches for 1,250 kilometres (775 miles).
General Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of the General Staff, told the meeting that Russian forces were “advancing in practically all directions,” including in the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
He said heavy fighting was concentrated around Pokrovsk and that Russian troops were advancing toward Siversk and Kostyantynivka, key Ukrainian positions in the Donetsk region.
Gerasimov added that Russian troops were clearing Ukrainian defenders from Kupiansk in the northeast and establishing “buffer zones” in the northern Sumy and Kharkiv regions to prevent cross-border strikes.
Ukraine, however, has dismissed Russia’s claims of broad success. Kyiv’s military maintains that Moscow has failed to capture any major Ukrainian city this year, despite repeated offensives.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukrainian forces have regained some territory in the border region of Sumy and made gains near Dobropillia, close to the critical logistics hub of Pokrovsk.
Putin reiterated that Russia’s objectives remain unchanged since the invasion began in February 2022, to “demilitarise and denazify” Ukraine.
As the war grinds on with no sign of a negotiated resolution, Russia continues to tout territorial advances, while Ukraine focuses on localized counterattacks and bolstering its defenses amid growing fatigue from a prolonged and costly conflict.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
