Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russian troops had taken control of nearly 5,000 square kilometers (1,930 square miles) of territory in Ukraine this year, asserting that Moscow now holds full strategic advantage on the battlefield.

Russia’s 2025 gains would amount to nearly 1% of Ukraine’s land area, and the country controls nearly 20% in total.

Putin, addressing a meeting with Russian top military commanders on his 73rd birthday, said Ukrainian forces were retreating in all sectors of the front. He said Kyiv was trying to strike deep into Russian territory, but it would not help it to change the situation in the more than 3 1/2-year-old war.

“At this time, the Russian armed forces fully hold the strategic initiative,” Putin told the meeting in northwestern Rus

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