The Russian President acknowledges the difficult situation in the controlled regions of Ukraine

The Kremlin: Putin will determine the military goals for 2023 during today's meeting

Putin during the state award ceremony in the Kremlin.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin sets the goals of his army for the year 2023 during a meeting with senior military leaders today, according to what the Kremlin announced yesterday, in the ninth month of the Russian attack on Ukraine, while Putin acknowledged, yesterday, that the situation is “very difficult” in the four regions. In the south and east of Ukraine, which Moscow announced its annexation, without controlling it completely.

The Kremlin said in a statement that "Vladimir Putin will hold an expanded meeting of the Ministry of Defense, the results of the activities of the Russian armed forces in 2022 will be presented, and tasks will be set for next year."

He added that Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu will especially participate in this meeting, with the aim of "displaying the progress of the special military operation" in Ukraine and the process of supplying arms shipments to combat forces.

He explained that about 15,000 officials in the Russian army will participate in this event via video technology.

This meeting comes after Putin changed his traditional press conference at the end of the year, noting that he had been doing so since 2001.

Yesterday, Putin acknowledged that the situation was "extremely difficult" in four regions in southern and eastern Ukraine that Moscow had previously announced annexation, although it does not fully control them.

"The situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, as well as in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, is very difficult," Putin said.

Putin was speaking in a video addressed to employees of the Foreign Security and Intelligence Service and the protection of senior officials, who annually celebrate their "professional holiday" in Russia on December 20.

Putin praised the performance of the Russian security services who work in the “new regions of Russia,” stressing that “the people who live there are Russian citizens” who depend on the “protection” of these agencies.

The Russian president, who previously worked in the KGB, called for "maximum concentration" on the part of counterintelligence services.

"It is necessary to severely suppress the work of foreign intelligence services and effectively identify traitors, spies and saboteurs," he said.

Earlier yesterday, Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko hailed the close relations between the two countries in Putin's first visit to Minsk since 2019.

The two presidents did not talk about the war in Ukraine during a joint press conference.

Putin said during the conference after his talks with Lukashenko: “Of course, during today's talks, we discussed in detail the issues of forming a unified defense space, ensuring the security of the Union State, as well as cooperation within the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, taking into account the fact of the transfer of the presidency of the Collective Security Treaty Organization. To Belarus, starting from the first of January, ”according to the Russian news agency “Sputnik”.

Putin added that it was agreed to "carry out mutual deliveries of the required weapons and participate in the production of new military equipment."

President Putin confirmed during his meeting with Lukashenko, Monday, in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, that Russia is ready to develop nuclear projects in Belarus.

The Russian president added that Moscow and Minsk have agreements on this.

The commander of the Ukrainian joint forces, Sergei Naif, said he believed the talks would deal with "another aggression against Ukraine and the broader participation of the Armed Forces of Belarus in the operation against Ukraine, namely, in our opinion, also in the field."

The press conference did not witness any questions being asked to any of the two presidents regarding the war in Ukraine.

Lukashenko has repeatedly declared that his country will not intervene in the Ukrainian war.

On the other hand, Ukraine announced that the losses among the Russian forces amounted to about 99,230 people since the start of the war on February 24.

This came in a statement issued by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, on its page on the social networking site (Facebook), and was reported by the Ukrainian National News Agency (Ukrinform) yesterday.

The statement said: "From February 24 to December 20, the Ukrainian forces destroyed 2,995 Russian tanks, 5,974 armored fighting vehicles, 1,960 artillery systems, 410 multiple-launch missile systems, and 212 anti-aircraft defense systems."

He added that 281 warplanes, 266 helicopters, 4,599 automatic vehicles and fuel tanks, 16 military boats, 1,680 drones and 177 special equipment units were destroyed, and a total of 653 Russian cruise missiles were shot down.

The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, said that the organization's leadership had received messages from Ukraine, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States, regarding reported transfers of drones (drones) from Iran to Russia in a manner that violates a Security Council resolution. international.

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