Putin, happier than ever
Vladimir Putin's forces have not conquered territory as quickly as expected since the start of the war in Ukraine in February 2022.
However, it will take at least another year for the Kremlin to fully seize the Donetsk region, which remains one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's main objectives.
22 square kilometers per day
According to figures from the American Institute for the Study of War, Russian soldiers gained 22 square kilometers per day throughout November. Russian forces advanced rapidly towards Kupiansk, in the northeast of the Kharkiv region, and around Khurakove, in the south of the Donbass.
The Institute for the Study of War notes that Russian troops are massively targeting Ukraine's most fortified strongholds, slowing their overall advance.
Authorization granted
Last week, the United States and the United Kingdom authorized Ukraine to use their long-range missiles against targets on Russian soil, but only in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces maintain partial control over the border zone.
Following these attacks, Russia responded with an intercontinental ballistic missile strike and threatened to deploy more in the future.
(MH with Manon Pierre with HQ - The Sun / Institute for the Study of War /Picture: by kremlin.ru via Wikicommons under Creative commons license CC-BY-4.0)