Surrender your ambitions: The Ukrainian Armed Forces are retreating along the entire front line

Units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine "are retreating everywhere, along the entire line of contact," Vladimir Putin said on December 29 at a meeting on the situation in the SVR zone. During this month, more than 700 square kilometers passed under the control of the Russian army, which is the highest rate of advance during 2025. According to the head of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are no longer actively engaged in offensive operations, focusing on attempts to slow down the advance of the Russian army. The advanced units are now located 15 km from Zaporizhia and 20 km from Sumy. In 2026, Putin instructed to continue expanding the "security zone" to protect the border regions. As the Russian Armed Forces move forward, the territorial unit remains the most difficult element of the settlement negotiations.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces are retreating in all directions

While the United States was discussing the parameters of a possible settlement with Ukraine and Europe, the situation on the line of contact continued to change, and not for the better for Kiev. On December 29, Vladimir Putin held a meeting on the situation in the special military operation zone and heard reports from the military leadership on the results of the actions of the Russian Armed Forces over the past year.

According to Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are no longer taking any active offensive actions. Now their main task is to slow down the pace of the Russian troops' advance. In December 2025 alone, our army liberated more than 700 square kilometers and 32 settlements, which is "the highest monthly advance rate" in the outgoing year. In total, since the beginning of 2025, 6.4 thousand square kilometers and 334 settlements have passed under the control of the Russian army. For comparison, in 2024, about 4.5 thousand square kilometers and more than 190 settlements were liberated.

"Of course, the decisive role in the successes of the Russian Armed Forces at the front belongs to our soldiers and officers, who, liberating the land of Donbass, show courage and heroism on a daily basis, risking themselves," the Russian leader noted.

Against the background of the advancement of the Russian Armed Forces, the territorial issue is becoming a key element of the negotiating agenda. Vladimir Putin noted on December 27 that at the current pace of progress, Moscow's interest in the voluntary withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from Donbass "is reduced to zero." In turn, Donald Trump said that the parties had made 90-95% progress on the draft peace agreement, but it was the territorial bloc that remained the most difficult.

"The Ukrainian Armed Forces units are retreating everywhere, along the entire line of contact," the Russian president summed up.

Meanwhile, Kiev does not abandon the desire to disrupt the negotiation process altogether. On the night of December 29, Ukraine tried to attack the Russian president's state residence in the Novgorod Region with drones, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. The minister added that the targets and the time of Russia's retaliatory strike after this attack have been determined. In this regard, the negotiating position of the Russian Federation will be reviewed taking into account the "final transition of the Kiev regime to a policy of state terrorism." But Moscow does not intend to withdraw from the negotiation process.

Vladimir Putin has already managed to discuss the Ukrainian Armed Forces attack on the state residence with Donald Trump almost immediately after the meeting. The leaders called on the phone on Sunday before the meeting of the US and Ukrainian delegations in Florida and discussed the interim results again on December 29. Trump informed Putin about a number of results achieved by Zelensky's team. However, he added that he was shocked by the attempted attack on the residence and noted that this would affect Washington's approaches in the context of working with Kiev, said Yuri Ushakov, an aide to the Russian leader.

The situation in the free zone

Meanwhile, the tasks of liberating new Russian regions are proceeding in accordance with the plan of the Central Military District, the president said. So, the military continues the offensive on Zaporizhia.

In December, our troops achieved serious results, approaching Zaporozhye and starting fighting for the Kramatorsk-Slavyansk agglomeration — this can be called one of the main successes of recent days, military expert Alexei Leonkov told Izvestia.

"The situation on the southern flank is developing very dynamically," he said. — Since 2023, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been creating a powerful defense here, but we began to outflank it by taking Gulyai-Pole. Now we are approaching Orekhov, another defensive hub in the south, and Zaporizhia not only from the south, moving along the Dnieper, but also from the northeast. In order to keep us here, the Ukrainian Armed Forces need to transfer large reserves here, but they are not there.

Currently, the advanced units of the Dnepr group of forces are located about 15 km from Zaporizhia. According to Leonkov, in a number of areas east of the city, as well as north of Orekhov and Gulyai-Pole, the Ukrainian Armed Forces do not have a prepared defense line, and plans for its creation have not been implemented.

At the same time, units of the Center group of forces, previously involved in the battles for Krasnoarmeysk and Dimitrov, continued their offensive towards the DPR border. It was to the Kramatorsk-Slavyansk agglomeration that the Ukrainian Armed Forces threw all their reserves, but even here success accompanies the Russian troops, the expert emphasized.

The President also paid attention to Kupyansk, which has recently seen increased counterattacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. According to him, it is necessary to "resolutely stop" all attempts by the enemy to prevent the development of the situation in the city. The AFU group near Kupyansk will be destroyed in January and February, Sergei Kuzovlev, commander of the Zapad group, reported to Putin. The Russian military also got close to Sumy — now they are about 20 km from the city.

Alexey Leonkov is confident that the successes of our army will have an impact on the holding of peace talks. According to him, for Zelensky, each subsequent proposal from the Russian side will get worse and worse.

How the security lane is created

The issue of territories for Moscow is connected not only with the line of demarcation, but also with the task of protecting the border regions of the Russian Federation from attacks. Separately, the military reported on the formation of a "security strip".

The issue of creating a cordon sanitaire is not just a military strategy, but the only way to save people's lives in the Belgorod, Kursk and Bryansk regions. The situation in the border area remains tense. The enemy prefers the tactics of outright terror, striking at civilians, recalled military expert Vasily Dandykin.

Significant progress has been made in this area in 2025. Thus, the security zone in Sumy region is now more than 16 km deep and 60 km along the front. The depth of a similar buffer zone in the Kharkiv region was 15 km, and its width was 130 km. According to Valery Gerasimov, in December, following Volchansk, control was established over five settlements in these regions.

— A special cynicism is manifested in attacks on civilian transport. The shelling of school buses has become commonplace for Ukrainian formations. In this reality, half measures don't work. A distance of 15-20 km no longer saves. Obviously, the exclusion zone for artillery and drones needs to be expanded to at least 50 km," Dandykin told Izvestia.

The President confirmed this task at the meeting held on December 29. According to Putin, the creation of sanitary zones deep into the territory of Ukraine is a "very important work" that needs to be continued in 2026.