Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with the military leadership in the Kremlin today about the situation on the front, ordered the continuation of fighting to achieve the goals of the "special military operation" in accordance with the plans of the General Staff, and told the Istok and Dnieper groups that they must continue the offensive to "liberate" the city of Zaporozhye.
"The missions of the armed forces to liberate Donbass and Novorossiya are taking place in stages and according to plan," Putin said at an expanded meeting of the Defense Ministry Collegium, the Russian news agency TASS reported.
Putin said Russian forces were "successfully advancing, breaking through enemy defenses, while Ukrainian forces were retreating along the entire front line."
"The liberation of the Dnieper People's Republic, the Luhansk People's Republic, the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions is being carried out in stages in accordance with the plans of the Special Military Operation," Putin said.
In December, Russian armed forces "liberated" more than 700 square kilometers of territory and 32 settlements, TASS reports.
Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said that in December, "the Russian armed forces achieved the highest rate of advance in a single year in the special operations zone."
Russian armed forces are advancing towards Zaporizhia, fighting for Orekhovo, the commanders of the operations reported.
Soldiers of the Dnieper Group of Forces "liberated" five settlements in the Zaporozhye region in two months, said the group's commander, Lieutenant General Mikhail Teplinsky. The head of the Dnieper Group of Forces units is 15 kilometers from the southern outskirts of the city of Zaporozhye.
According to the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Valery Gerasimov, the capture of Dibrova and Boguslavka has been completed, and Russian troops are actively advancing in the town of Krasny Liman, continuing their efforts to eliminate units of the Ukrainian armed forces.
Russian armed forces have taken control of the southeastern part of Grishin in Donetsk, continuing to destroy enemy forces east of Kupyansk, reducing the territory controlled by Ukrainian forces by more than half.
Russian armed forces control approximately half of the village of Novopavlovka in the Dnipropetrovsk region, according to the commanders of the operations.
Over 900 square kilometers in Sumy and Kharkiv regions have been placed under Russian control, the commander of the Northern Group of Forces, Lieutenant General Yevgeny Nikiforov, reported, stating that Russian forces are less than 20 kilometers from Sumy.
As stated, Russian troops plan to complete the destruction of the encircled units of the Ukrainian armed forces near Kupyansk in January-February.
Putin ordered the continuation of the expansion of the security zone along the Russian-Ukrainian border in 2026 and indicated that "attempts by the enemy to disrupt the Russian military presence in Kupyansk" must be prevented.
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