At the annual end-of-year press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, a woman from the Kursk region asked when the Russian army would drive Ukrainian forces out of Russian territory. Putin was unable to answer the question with a specific date.
The 72-year-old Russian autocrat only promised that Ukrainian troops would eventually leave the Kursk region, according to The Moscow Times.
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“I cannot and do not want to give a specific date for when they will be driven out. The guys are fighting, the battle is happening right now. The fighting is serious... We will definitely drive them out. I cannot answer the question about a specific date right now,” Putin said.
He said that his military personnel were listening to him, and if he mentioned “a day or two,” they would go there “at all costs and wouldn’t care about losses.”
“A day or two – doesn’t make much difference. But the most important thing is everything will be restored,” Putin assured.
Russia’s troops have been advancing in eastern Ukraine for months, with Putin repeatedly touting their prowess on the battlefield.
“We are moving towards resolving the primary aims that we set at the start of the special military operation,” Putin said, using Russia’s euphemism for the war.
“Our guys are fighting heroically. The capabilities of the armed forces are growing.”
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Previously, Putin had publicly demanded three times that the military “expel the enemy” from Kursk, most recently on Dec. 16 at a Ministry of Defense meeting, calling it “the sacred duty of the armed forces.” In November, he promised a swift clearance of the territory from the enemy, but since then, the Russian army has been unable to fulfill this task.
Earlier reports indicated that Moscow had intensified its offensive in December, which could be related to the upcoming inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump on Jan. 20. If Russian troops reach the Ukrainian border, Putin will not need to negotiate an exchange of territory in the Kursk region for Ukrainian lands occupied by Russian forces.
On Aug. 6 of this year, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched an offensive in Russia’s Kursk region, crossing the border near the town of Sudzha. Over the following days, Ukrainian forces advanced deeper into the region, controlling several hundred square kilometers. This was Ukraine’s first large-scale operation on Russian border territory since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
The operation in Kursk became an important stage in Ukraine’s counteroffensive, demonstrating the ability of Ukrainian forces to conduct operations on Russian soil and influence the situation on the front.
The Ukrainian military operation in Kursk has drawn Russian troops away from other key fronts, including Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv.
However, some Ukrainian soldiers have expressed the opinion that they could be more effective in eastern Ukraine, where Russian forces continue to advance.
US President-elect Donald Trump, who is about to enter the White House next month, campaigned on a platform of ushering a swift end to the Ukraine war, boasting that he would quickly mediate a ceasefire deal between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Putin.
Yet Trump’s critics have warned that he will likely leverage US military aid to pressure Kyiv into an agreement that will oblige Ukraine to cede occupied territory permanently or even agreeing not to pursue NATO membership.
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