One of Vladimir Putin’s allies has made a boastful five-word prediction for the new year.
The Deputy Chair of Russia’s Security Council and former President, Dmitry Medvedev, posted a gif on X on December 31.
It read: “Happy New Year, World! Happy New Year, beloved Russia!”
He then named 2025 as the “Year of the Great Victory!”
In a separate video post on his Telegram channel, Newsweek reports, Medvedev also said that 2024 was a year of “serious achievements”, and mentioned “those who are defending our homeland.”
Putin’s troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022, meaning that the resulting war will have been going on for three years next month.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports that Russian forces gained 4,168 square kilometers, largely comprised of fields and small settlements in Ukraine and Kursk Oblast, at a reported cost of over 420,000 casualties in 2024.
Putin’s advances “slowed” in December, experts added.
The ISW reported: “ISW has observed geolocated evidence to assess that Russian forces gained 593 square kilometers or 18.1 square kilometers per day in December 2024, while the number of daily Russian casualties in December 2024 remained similar to the estimated daily casualty rate in November 2024.
“The Ukrainian General Staff reported a daily Russian personnel casualty average of 1,585 in December 2024, marking a fourth all-time high of Russia’s daily casualty rate following reports that Russia’s average daily Russian personnel casualty reached a new all-time high of 1,523 casualties per day in November 2024.”
Observers add that Western aid remains “critical to Ukraine’s ability to stabilize the frontline in 2025”.
The ISW states: “Ukrainian defenders have largely stalled Russian advances near Chasiv Yar and Toretsk, but Russian forces continue to make gradual, grinding advances in the Pokrovsk, Kurakhove, and Velyka Novosilka directions.
“Ongoing Ukrainian manpower constraints and morale issues are also creating vulnerabilities in Ukraine’s defensive lines, and Ukrainian officials must address these issues and steel defenders against Russian infantry assaults in eastern and southern Ukraine.”
