During his meticulously planned annual press briefing, President Putin announced that Russian military forces have taken “full strategic initiative” and are poised for further advancements by year’s end.

In the initial phase of the 2022 conflict, Ukrainian forces successfully repelled Russia’s larger and better-equipped military from capturing Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.

However, what followed was a series of prolonged battles, with Russian troops gradually making headway over time. Although this progress has been slower than anticipated, Putin often highlights these gains, even as they fall short of the rapid victories some had expected.

“Our troops are making headway along the entire front line—quicker in some regions, slower in others—but the enemy is withdrawing everywhere,” Putin stated during the live news conference, which also features a nationwide call-in segment allowing Russians to pose questions to their leader.

Having led Russia for 25 years, Putin uses this event to reinforce his authority and share his perspectives on both domestic and international issues.

This year, the news conference took place against the backdrop of a peace plan in Ukraine put forward by US President Donald Trump. Despite the extensive diplomatic push, Washington’s efforts have run into sharply conflicting demands from Moscow and Kyiv.

While the event has previously focused heavily on domestic questions — and has offered Putin a chance to expound on topics from the price of eggs to water cuts — Ukraine has dominated so far this year. Since it is highly choreographed, that could reflect the Kremlin’s desire to assuage the public after nearly four years of fighting.

Russian demands remain unchanged

Putin reaffirmed that Moscow was ready for a peaceful settlement that would address the “root causes” of the conflict, a reference to the Kremlin’s tough conditions for a deal.

The Russian leader wants all the areas in four key regions captured by his forces, as well as the Crimean Peninsula, illegally annexed in 2014, to be recognised as Russian territory. He has also insisted that Ukraine withdraw from some areas in eastern Ukraine that Moscow’s forces haven’t captured yet. Kyiv has publicly rejected all these demands.

The Kremlin has also insisted that Ukraine abandon its bid to join the Western NATO military alliance and warned that it wouldn’t accept the deployment of any troops from NATO members and would view them as “legitimate target.”

Putin also has repeatedly said that Ukraine must limit the size of its army and give official status to the Russian language — demands he has made from the outset of the conflict.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed readiness to drop Ukraine’s bid to join NATO if the US and other Western nations give Kyiv security guarantees similar to those offered to alliance members. But at the same time, he has emphasised that Ukraine believes NATO membership remains the best security guarantee.

″The United States don’t see us in NATO, for now,” Zelenskyy said this week. “Politicians change.”

Putin warns any seizure of Russian assets will backfire

As it faces grinding Russian advances across the front line and relentless attacks on its energy facilities, Ukraine is in on the verge of bankruptcy — and it desperately needs more cash from its Western allies.

On Friday, European Union leaders agreed to provide a massive interest-free loan, but they failed to bridge differences with Belgium that would have allowed them to use frozen Russian assets to raise the funds.

The leaders tried to reassure Belgium, where most of the frozen assets are held, that they would protect it from any retaliation from Moscow if it backed the plan, but the leaders eventually opted to borrow the money on capital markets.

Putin commented that using the Russian assets to help Kyiv would have amounted to “robbery”, adding that the move would have spooked investors, “dealing not only an image blow but undermining confidence in the eurozone.”

Putin says troop numbers are strong

Putin told the audience that the flow of volunteer soldiers has remained strong, topping 400,000 this year. It was not possible to independently verify that claim since little is known about the recruitment effort.

But the government offers relatively high pay and extensive benefits that have helped swell troop ranks. The Kremlin says that it exclusively relies on volunteers to fight in Ukraine, but some media reports and rights groups have said that military officers often coerce conscripts into signing military contracts.

Asked by a soldier’s widow about the slowness in paying out a pension, Putin apologised and vowed that the issue would be quickly solved — an exchange typical of the annual event, which the Russian leader often uses to show his command of a wide array of subjects and his ability to solve problems.