Why was “2024 a pivotal year” for Vladimir Putin?
On Monday, the head of the Kremlin addressed top executives of the Ministry of Defense. In his speech, he praised the recent advances made by the Russian army.
In a review of the year 2024, Vladimir Putin returned to the acceleration of Russian advances since autumn, with his troops currently at the gates of Pokrovsk, a strategic city in eastern Ukraine. “Russian troops have the strategic initiative along the entire line of contact,” he declared. He added that 189 localities had been “liberated” (a term used by Russia to designate the takeover of Ukrainian towns) in the course of 2024.
The Russian President also stressed that “the past year has been a pivotal one in terms of achieving our objectives”. According to Andrei Belooussov, Russian Defense Minister, Russia will have conquered 4,500km2 of Ukrainian territory by 2024.
Vladimir Putin also welcomed the considerable increase in Russian arms production. As reported by 20 Minutes, the head of the Kremlin said that “all questions relating to mass production and deployment of national systems for carrying out strikes, including hypersonic systems, must be resolved”.
Today, Russia's armed forces are reportedly beginning to make use of aircraft assisted by Artificial Intelligence.
(MH with Manon Pierre - Source : 20 Minutes - Picture : by kremlin.ru via Wikicommons under license Creative commons CC-BY-4.0)