Putin Claims Russia Has Captured 5,000 Square Kilometers of Ukrainian Territory in 2025

Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday that Russian forces have captured approximately 5,000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory during 2025, asserting that Moscow maintains complete strategic initiative on the battlefield.

The territorial gains claimed by Russia would represent nearly 1% of Ukraine's total land area, with Russian forces now controlling nearly 20% of Ukraine altogether.

Speaking at a meeting with senior military commanders on his 73rd birthday, Putin stated that Ukrainian forces are retreating across all front sectors. He dismissed Kyiv's attempts to strike deep into Russian territory, claiming these efforts would not alter the trajectory of the conflict that has now continued for more than three and a half years.

"At this time, the Russian armed forces fully hold the strategic initiative," Putin declared during the meeting near St. Petersburg, according to a Kremlin transcript.

"This year, we have liberated nearly 5,000 square kilometers of territory - 4,900 - and 212 localities."

Putin further asserted that Ukrainian forces "are retreating throughout the line of combat contact, despite attempts at fierce resistance."

Russia's Defence Ministry reported the capture of two additional villages along the front line on Tuesday, which Ukraine's top commander says now extends over 1,250 kilometers.

In contrast, Ukraine's military had dismissed Russia's recent offensives as unsuccessful in August, claiming that Moscow's forces failed to capture any major Ukrainian city this year.

According to Ukrainian accounts, Kyiv's troops have made advances in the Donetsk region, particularly near Dobropillia, a town close to the strategic logistics hub of Pokrovsk. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has also reported that Ukrainian forces have reclaimed territory in the border Sumy region, where Russia has established a foothold.

Russian Army General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff, told the commanders' meeting that Russian forces were "advancing in practically all directions," while Ukrainian forces were primarily focused on slowing this advance.

Gerasimov, who oversees Russia's war effort, noted that the most intense fighting was occurring around Pokrovsk and areas extending toward Dnipropetrovsk.

He stated that Moscow's troops were advancing toward the key cities of Siversk and Kostyantynivka in the main Donetsk region theater.

According to Gerasimov, Russian forces were clearing Ukrainian troops from Kupiansk, a city in Ukraine's northeast that has been under Russian attack for months, and were advancing in the southern Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

They were also making progress in establishing buffer zones in the northern Sumy and Kharkiv regions.

In his remarks, Putin reiterated that Russia's objectives remain unchanged since he launched the "special military operation" in February 2022, maintaining that the campaign aims to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine.