Sawt Falasteen - Putin says troops have upper hand in Ukraine

Addressing top military generals in an end-of-year meeting, the Kremlin leader struck a defiant and optimistic tone, claiming his troops had the upper hand across the entire front line.

He also hit out at what he called a Western "hybrid war" and its attempts to inflict a "strategic defeat" on Moscow.

The comments come with Russia's army advancing across eastern Ukraine at their fastest pace since the first weeks of the offensive.

Both Moscow and Kyiv are seeking to improve their position on the battlefield before US President-elect Donald Trump comes to power in January.

The Republican has repeatedly said he could strike a ceasefire in hours, without presenting a plan, and speculation about peace talks is mounting.

- 'Strategic initiative' -

"Russian troops are firmly holding the strategic initiative along the entire line of contact," Putin said in the televised meeting with army bosses and defence ministry officials.

He said Russia's army had seized 189 Ukrainian settlements this year and called 2024 a "landmark year in the achievement of the goals of the special military operation", using Moscow's official language for its campaign.

Speaking after Putin at the same meeting, Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov said Russia's troops had seized a total of almost 4,500 square kilometres (1,737 square miles) of Ukrainian territory in this year and were now gaining around 30 square kilometres a day.

He said Ukraine controlled less than one percent of the eastern Lugansk region, and around 25-30 percent of the Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

Russia claimed in 2022 to annex all four, despite not having full control over any of them.

Russia's army said Monday it had captured another small village in the Donetsk region, as part of its latest advance.

AFP analysis of Institute for the Study of War data found that in November Russian troops advanced at their fastest pace since March 2022 -- the first full month of the offensive.

- 'Dangerous expansion' -

Putin has been accused by Kyiv and the West of escalating the nearly three-year conflict in recent weeks.

On Monday, ten countries and the EU called North Korea's growing involvement the conflict a "dangerous expansion" of the fighting "with serious consequences for European and Indo-Pacific security."

The foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States and the high representative of the European Union signed the release.

It came after Ukraine said it had killed or wounded at least 30 North Korean troops fighting alongside Russia's soldiers in the Kursk border region, where Kyiv is mounting an offensive.

The United States, South Korea and Ukraine have accused the North of sending more than 10,000 soldiers to support Russia.

Putin on Monday also defended Russia's vast defence and security spending on the conflict, amid mounting economic uncertainty at home.

Military spending has surpassed six percent of GDP, while overall defence and security outlays are almost nine percent.

"It is not, strangely enough, the biggest expenditure in the world, even among countries that do not have any armed conflict," Putin, an ex-KGB spy in power for the last quarter of a century, said.

"Nevertheless, it is a lot of money, and here we need to use it very rationally," he added.

Kyiv, by contrast, relies on Western financial and military support to fund and wage its defensive campaign.

There are fears there that Trump could cut US aid, potentially dealing a devastating blow to Ukraine's ability to hold off Russia's advance.

Ukraine also faces manpower shortages across the frontlines and is being pressured by Washington to consider lowering its draft age from 25 to 18 to recruit more soldiers.

Putin said that Russia -- which offers high salaries and sign-up bonuses to new soldiers -- faced no such problems.

He said 430,000 people had signed up to fight this year, up from around 300,000 in 2023.

"And this flow of volunteers is not stopping," he said.

R.Halabi--SF-PST