President Putin claims military gains and praises combat readiness.
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that if diplomacy fails, the Russian military will liberate historic Russian territories in Ukraine.
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“We would prefer to address the root causes of the conflict through diplomacy. If the adversary and its foreign sponsors refuse to talk about it, Russia will achieve the liberation of its historic territories by military means,” he said, addressing the top brass of the military and the Defense Ministry.
“Without a doubt, Russia will achieve all the objectives of the special military operation,” he said, adding that Russian troops have liberated more than 300 localities over the past year.
Putin also highlighted the high combat capability of Russian soldiers despite Ukraine having “the potential of the member countries of the largest political-military bloc in the world: NATO.”
Putin:
The Russian Army firmly maintains the strategic initiative along the entire line of contact.
Russian forces are successfully wearing down, among others, elite units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, including formations trained in the West.
The Russian Army is capable of… pic.twitter.com/7QpCytHld8
— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 17, 2025
“The year that is ending has been an important stage in fulfilling the missions of the special military operation. The Russian army maintains the strategic initiative along the entire front line,” the Russian leader said.
Putin highlighted said that Russian forces are “pummeling” elite Ukrainian units trained at Western instruction centers and equipped with modern foreign weaponry. He also confirmed that Russia will continue to expand the security buffer zone in the regions of Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Sumy.
At the same time, the Russian president called for “equal-footing” cooperation with the United States and European countries “to form a single security system in the Eurasian space.”
“We welcome the progress made in the dialogue with the new U.S. administration, which, unfortunately, cannot be said about the current leaders of most European countries,” Putin concluded.
#FromTheSouth News Bits | Russia: An apartment building was damaged after a nighttime drone attack in the province of Tver, less than 200 kilometers northwest of Moscow. pic.twitter.com/CfTYyz5KSl
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 15, 2025
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Source: EFE
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