‘Our troops advancing, enemy retreating’: Putin as Ukraine war nears four years

Amid United States’ push to end the war in Ukraine, which has been going on for almost four years, Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed the progress of Russian troops in Ukraine and said that the troops are advancing as the “enemy” is “retreating in all directions”.

Putin made the remarks during an year-end press conference in Moscow.

“Our troops are advancing all across the line of contact, faster in some areas or slower in some others, but the enemy is retreating in all sectors,” Putin said.

“I’m sure that before the end of this year we will still witness new successes,” he added.

The Russian President also said that there was lack of readiness from Ukraine‘s side for a peace deal but that there were “certain signals” that both the countries could engage in dialogue, while maintaining that Russia’s terms of ending the war were still the same as the ones he laid out in June 2024.

“The only thing I want to say is that we have always said this: we are ready and willing to end this conflict peacefully, based on the principles I outlined last June at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and by addressing the root causes that led to this crisis,” he said.

Also read: Before Russia changes their mind: Donald Trump calls on Ukraine to ‘move quickly’ on peace deal

In June 2024, Putin had demanded that to end the war, Ukraine should give up on being a member of NATO and should withdraw from the four territories Russia has seized and claimed as its own.

Updates from the battlefield

The Russian President also shared updates on what was happening at the battle front and said that Russian troops are advancing from almost directions while the “enemy” is retreating.

“In general, immediately after our troops drove the enemy from the Kursk region, the initiative, the strategic ⁠initiative, passed entirely into the hands of the Russian armed forces. What does this mean? It means that our troops are advancing along the entire line of contact, in some places faster, in others ‍more slowly, ‌but in all directions, the enemy is retreating,” he said.

(With inputs from Reuters, AP)