January, President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine will have dragged on longer than the war on the Eastern Front that ended with the fall of Berlin in May 1945.

Russian commanders told Putin during an inspection visit that Moscow's forces had captured towns in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk.

MOSCOW, Dec 29 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Monday told his army to press on with a campaign to take full control of the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine after a Russian commander said Moscow's forces were 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) from its biggest city.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Moscow’s troops are advancing across the battlefield in Ukraine, voicing confidence that the Kremlin’s military goals will be achieved

Ukraine and the US remain split primarily on territorial issues in talks on a peace plan to end Russia’s war, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.

The move appears to be a response to several initiatives to go after Russian officials and military officers for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, something Moscow denies its forces are guilty of.

Russian President Vladimir Putin fielded many questions at his annual news conference. But amid the weighty queries from reporters about the fighting in Ukraine and other domestic issues, there also were the odd and lighter moments.

Over the course of Trump’s first year in office, Zelensky and other European leaders have repeatedly worked to convince Trump that Russia’s President Putin is, in fact, an aggressor opposed to peace, responsible for an unprovoked invasion that launched the deadliest conflict in Europe since the Second World War.