Offensive strengthening: Putin assessed the results of the year at the Board of the Ministry of Defense

The outgoing year 2025 has become an important stage in solving the tasks of the SVR: the Russian army has liberated over 300 settlements, firmly holds the initiative on the entire front line and can step up the offensive in strategically important areas. This was stated by Vladimir Putin on December 17 at an expanded meeting of the board of the Ministry of Defense. Nevertheless, Moscow is still ready to resolve the conflict through diplomacy, but if not, it will achieve the liberation of historical lands by military means, he stressed. According to Minister Andrei Belousov, this year the potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has decreased by a third: losses amounted to almost 500 thousand people and 103 thousand units of equipment. The head of the Defense Ministry also warned about NATO's preparations for a military clash with Russia.: Today, the alliance's annual budget is $1.6 trillion, but it is planned to increase it to $2.7 trillion.

The situation in the free zone

Vladimir Putin arrived at the Ministry of Defense on December 17 for an expanded meeting of the department's board. In his speech, he stressed that the outgoing year had become an important stage in solving the tasks of the SVR: over 300 settlements, including large cities, had been liberated. The Russian army firmly holds the strategic initiative on the entire front line and can increase the pace of the offensive, including in strategically important areas.

"Our troops are steadily advancing and crushing the enemy, its groups and reserves, including the so—called elite units and formations trained in Western military centers, equipped with modern foreign equipment and weapons," the president said.

On the same day, in the building of the military department, Vladimir Putin awarded the Gold Star medals to the Heroes of Russia, the fighters who participated in the operation to liberate Seversk in the Donetsk People's Republic. This result is the result of the courage of Russian soldiers and officers, it opens up the possibility of further offensive of the Russian Armed Forces "on the most important frontiers and directions," the president said at the award ceremony.

Russia is proud of the exploits of soldiers and officers fighting on the front line. The President promised that the state would do everything to support the families of the deceased servicemen and announced a minute of silence in memory of the victims.

— Our army has become completely different. This concerns command and control, tactics, strategy, and equipment," the president added. — The guys from the front came, they know that there are many problems, but the troops are completely different and they are fighting. There is no such army in the world anymore, it simply does not exist.

In 2025, the actions of the united group of forces reduced the combat potential of the Armed Forces by a third: the Ukrainian forces lost 103 thousand units of weapons and equipment, including 5.5 thousand Western-made, which is twice as high as last year, said the head of the Ministry of Defense Andrei Belousov.

Ukraine's law enforcement agencies also lost almost 500,000 troops, which is why Kiev "lost the ability to replenish its groups through the forced mobilization of citizens," he continued. According to the minister, the Russian Armed Forces have been holding the strategic initiative throughout the year, conducting an offensive in almost all directions. The pace of advance of the Vostok, Center and Zapad groups of troops has increased by one and a half to two times compared to 2024.

— In the end, what was obvious from the very beginning was confirmed — the collapse of the defense of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is inevitable. Finally, Kiev's Western supervisors clearly understand this," the minister said.

The capture of the city of Krasny Liman continues, the liberation of which opens the way for the blockade of Slavyansk. The North group has already liberated the large border town of Volchansk and continues to create a security zone in the Kharkiv and Sumy regions.: this reduced the threat of invasion in the Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk regions, the head of the military department noted.

The troops of the Dnepr group are fighting on the outskirts of the city of Orekhov in the Zaporizhia region. His release will create conditions for an offensive in the north-west of the region.

Russian troops are securely holding the Dnieper island zone, repelling attempts by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to land on the Tendrovskaya and Kinburnskaya spit.

The "southern" group of troops occupied powerful enemy fortified areas — Chasov Yar, Kurakhovo and Seversk. Battles are currently underway for Konstantinovka, the key to the last stronghold of the Kiev regime in the Donbas — the Druzhkovsko—Kramatorsko-Slavyanskaya agglomeration.

"The capture of this frontier will make it possible to complete the liberation of the DPR in a short time," the minister said.

The goals of the special military operation will certainly be achieved, Vladimir Putin added.

— We would prefer to do this and eliminate the root causes of the conflict through diplomacy. If the opposing side, their foreign patrons, essentially refuse to talk, Russia will achieve the liberation of its historical lands by military means. The task of creating and expanding a security buffer zone will also be consistently addressed," the Russian president stressed.

The Defense Minister called maintaining and increasing the pace of the offensive a key task for the next year. This year, the Armed Forces have formed five divisions, 13 brigades and 30 regiments, and next year four more divisions, 14 brigades and 39 regiments will be formed. The main issue will be the formation of a new type of military — unmanned systems. According to him, it will have to be completed next year: to switch from performing individual tasks in groups and calculations to complex joint actions as part of units and military units.

NATO is preparing for a clash with Russia

Currently, geopolitical tensions in a number of regions of the world are becoming critical, the president noted. The NATO countries that stand behind the Kiev regime are actively building up and modernizing their offensive forces, creating and deploying new types of weapons. In addition, NATO continues to provide large-scale military assistance to Ukraine. The President recalled the origins of the conflict, from the collapse of the USSR to the events of 2014. Now, the West, having started fighting in Ukraine, once again wanted the collapse of Russia, Vladimir Putin believes.

"Everyone believed that in a short period of time they would destroy and destroy Russia,— the head of state noted. — And the European backers immediately joined in this work of the former American administration in the hope of profiting from the collapse of our country, regaining something that was lost in previous historical periods, and trying to take revenge.

At the same time, in Europe, fears of an allegedly inevitable clash with Russia are being driven into people's heads and the "degree of hysteria" is being raised. The Russian president once again called these statements "lies and nonsense." The heads of several European countries are guided by short-term personal political interests rather than the interests of their peoples, the head of state stressed.

According to the head of the Ministry of Defense, the threats to military security have changed significantly over the past three years: NATO continues to build up coalition forces, preparations are underway for the deployment of medium-range missiles, and the range of nuclear weapons has been updated.

The efficiency of the transfer of alliance troops to the eastern flank is also increasing, for which it is planned to introduce the so-called "military Schengen". This is the unofficial name of the EU project aimed at creating a zone for the rapid and unhindered transfer of troops and equipment across the borders of the participating countries.

In addition, the alliance is significantly increasing military spending. Today, its annual budget is $1.6 trillion. But given that the bloc's countries plan to increase military spending to 5% of national GDP, the NATO budget will grow more than one and a half times to $2.7 trillion.

— All this indicates that NATO is preparing for a military clash with Russia. The alliance's plans provide for achieving readiness for such actions at the turn of the 2030s. This has been openly stated on several occasions by official representatives of the NATO bloc," the minister noted.

A difficult military and political situation is developing around Russia, military expert Vasily Dandykin noted in an interview with Izvestia.

— In this situation, we need to pay close attention to the development of the Armed Forces. We will increase the mass production of our hypersonic systems. The Navy will also strengthen — new submarines, conventional submarines and warships are on the way. Our army is currently being saturated with robotic systems, and we are talking not only about UAVs of various types, but also ground attack platforms with machine guns and grenade launchers," he said.

During the special operation, Russia has shown its stability in the economy, finances, in the domestic political situation of society, as well as in the field of defense, Vladimir Putin noted.

"And the main thing that happened during the special military operation is that Russia regained its full sovereignty status, and Russia became a sovereign country in every sense of the word," he stressed.

Meanwhile, the statehood and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on the contrary, are deteriorating, Vladimir Putin added. This can be seen in the "golden toilets," the president said, apparently alluding to the recent corruption scandal in the leadership of the Kiev regime. And by the way the number of deserters is increasing: it is estimated in the hundreds of thousands.

The state and modernization of the Russian army

The President instructed to work systematically to strengthen the Armed Forces. Russian troops are continuously receiving missile systems, drones and robotics, and the Russian Navy has added new submarines and 19 surface ships and vessels this year, Vladimir Putin said. Among them is the strategic missile carrier Knyaz Pozharsky.

A medium-range missile system with an Oreshnik hypersonic missile will be put on combat duty by the end of the year. Vladimir Putin also recalled the successful tests of the Burevestnik and Poseidon — due to the use of a nuclear power plant, these complexes will remain unique and unique for a long time, they will ensure strategic parity, security and global positions of Russia for decades to come.

"We will still work on these complexes, we will refine them, improve them, improve them, but they already exist," Vladimir Putin said. — Our nuclear shield is more modern than the nuclear component of any official nuclear power.

Among the tasks facing the country, the president named the modernization of the Russian Armed Forces, keeping the Russian army at the forefront of technological progress, equipping satellite groups with new devices, and improving strategic nuclear forces.

"The results of 2025 demonstrate that Russia has built a stable superiority in terms of the pace of its offensive, the quality of command and the technical level of equipment of its troops, which indicates the strength of our military potential and the ability to complete tasks," military expert Dmitry Boltenkov told Izvestia. — This is confirmed by a significant increase in arms supplies, the creation of a reserve for new types of weapons and robotics, as well as the strengthening of the medical and social support system for the military and their families, which increases the morale of the army.

The plans for 2026 to increase the pace of the offensive will allow not only to achieve further operational results at the front, but also to form a qualitatively new, modern and technological army capable of reliably protecting the country from any threats and strengthening Russia's status as a leading military power, he concluded.