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By Brendan Cole
Senior Reporter
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What's new
The four Ukrainian regions Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed to have annexed in 2022 but still does not fully control will be captured in their entirety next year, Russia's defense minister Andrei Belousov has said.
Belousov made the comments during a defense ministry meeting in Moscow on Monday.
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Newsweek has contacted the Ukrainian foreign ministry for comment.
Why it matters
On September 30, 2022, over six months into his full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin declared that Moscow had annexed the oblasts of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk.
Much of the latter two, which comprise of the wider Donbas region, had been controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014, the year that Moscow illegally annexed Crimea.
The annexation occurred after referendums held days before which were organized by Russian occupation authorities but were denounced by the international community.
None of the four regions of Ukraine Putin said he had annexed were fully under Moscow's control at the time of his declaration and they are still fiercely fought over.
Belousov's comments on Monday reiterate Putin's objectives for the four regions as necessary for any negotiated settlement to the war.
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What to know
Belousov said on Monday that Russia "plans to achieve victory" in the war which would only occur if Russian forces met the goals stated by Putin earlier this year.
These consist of Ukraine withdrawing from territory it controls in the four Ukrainian regions before any end to hostilities.
On June 14 Putin had said Russia would agree to a ceasefire and peace talks only if Ukraine withdraws from the four oblasts, abandons plans to join NATO, and recognizes Crimea and Sevastopol as part of Russia.
Belousov's comments Monday echo those of Security Council Deputy chairperson and former President Dmitry Medvedev on December 12 that Russian occupation of all four oblasts remains Moscow's current territorial objective.
Belousov also warned of a direct war between Moscow and NATO within the next decade.
What people are saying
Andrei Belousov said: "In 2025, Moscow plans to achieve victory in the war."
Sergei Mironov, leader of A Just Russia party, which backs Kremlin foreign policy, told Newsweek in a statement on Tuesday: "Vladimir Putin has actually confirmed what has long been obvious to all who have been following the conflict and events in Ukraine for the last 11 years—Ukraine as a state has ceased to exist,"
The Institute for the Study of War said on Monday: The emphasis on the territorial demands and Putin's "continued claim that the current Ukrainian government is illegitimate, demonstrate that the Kremlin is demanding that other negotiating parties hand over sovereign Ukrainian territory."
What happens next
Russia has been making steady gains in the Donetsk region in recent weeks as its forces focus on the logistics hub of Pokrovsk, whose capture will give a boost to Putin's aim to control the whole of Donetsk.
Heading into 2015, Russia's momentum along the front line is continuing, albeit at a high cost in troops. Belousov said Moscow had seized almost 1,737 square miles of Ukrainian territory this year and was now gaining around 11 square miles per day.
Putin said on Monday that Russian forces were accelerating their advance across the front line and had seized 189 Ukrainian settlements in 2024, which he described as a "landmark year" in the war.
Anticipation over whether Putin will view 2025 in same light could depend on what President-elect Donald Trump will do when he enters the White House, given his criticism of continued aid for Ukraine and insistence that he can strike a deal to end the war quickly.
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