Putin Visits West Group Command Post

Recent results and a few curious comments

President Putin capped a very busy day with a scheduled visit with his command team at what seems like a rather short interval since their last meeting on 25 October. It’s clear that Putin wasn’t there just to obtain a situation report plus the meeting is being shared with the world because of several comments made during the meeting that you’ll see emphasized and further discussed.

V. Putin: Dear comrades, good afternoon!

We held a similar meeting on October 25, with the participation of the Chief of the General Staff, the Chief of the Main Operations Directorate, and the commanders of the two groups, the West Group and the Center Group. At that time, both the commander and the Chief of the General Staff reported on the situation in Krasnoarmeysk and Kupyansk, where you had managed to block large enemy units.

Today, our meeting is also attended by the Chief of the General Staff, the Chief of the General Operations Directorate, the Commander and Operational Command Staff of the Western Group, as well as the Commander of the Southern Group. The former Commander of the Southern Group has been appointed to a new position as Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation. I am confident that he will use all of his knowledge and experience as a combat commander in his new role. This is highly relevant today.

I would like to hear the Chief of the General Staff’s report on the situation in the Center’s area of responsibility. I did not invite the Commander today, as he has other tasks to attend to. In fact, we both know what is happening, but I would like to hear your report on the current situation.

And then I would like to hear the new commander of the South Group. This is not a new job for you, given that you were the chief of staff of the same group. In this sense, we have complete and 100% continuity. Who else knows the situation in this area better than you? You have the upper hand, both literally and figuratively.

I would like to ask you to focus on the situation in Konstantinovka, where, as far as I know, fighting is already taking place, as well as on the overall situation in the Kramatorsk-Druzhkovka area and, of course, around Seversk.

Then I would like to ask the commander of the Western Group to report on the situation in Kupyansk, as well as on the left bank of the Oskol River. I am referring to Kupyansk-Uzlovoy and the surrounding area, where, as far as I know, you have also managed to block a significant enemy force. There were 18 battalions there not so long ago, and now, as the Chief of the General Staff reports, there are approximately 15 battalions. I would like to know how you plan to continue working in this area and in your overall area of responsibility. Are the 6th Army and the 1st Tank Army fighting on the left bank? Tell us more about it.

And, Valery Vasilyevich, I would also like to ask you to report on whether it is possible to create the conditions I have requested, so that the members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces can lay down their arms and surrender, given their current situation.

V. Gerasimov: Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief! These conditions have been created, and given the desperate situation, many military personnel have decided to surrender. However, most of them are unable to carry out this task due to the threat of being shot or destroyed by their own drones. The Ukrainian political leadership has not provided any instructions to their troops in this regard.

V. Putin: I understand. In fact, we already understand what the political leadership of Ukraine is. Since March last year, it has not been a political leadership at all. It has been a group of individuals, a criminal gang, and an organized criminal community that has usurped power since March last year and is using the pretext of continuing the war with Russia to maintain its control over Ukraine for personal enrichment. This has become a well-known fact based on the results of the anti-corruption investigation in Ukraine itself. I think it’s clear to everyone that these people, sitting on their golden pots, are unlikely to think about the fate of their country, the fate of ordinary people in Ukraine, the officers, and especially the ordinary soldiers. They don’t have time for that.

But we have our own tasks and goals. The main goal is to achieve the objectives of the special military operation and solve the problems that our country and the Russian people have set for us. The Russian people are counting on us, counting on you, and expecting the results that the country needs.

Let’s get to work. Valery Vasilyevich, please.

V. Gerasimov: Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief! The Armed Forces continue to carry out tasks in accordance with the plan of the special military operation. The troops of the combined group are advancing in almost all directions, developing the success achieved during the spring-summer campaign.

The enemy is trying to stop the advance of our troops. At the same time, they are focusing their main efforts on trying to stabilize the situation in the Krasnoarmeysky direction. The Northern Group’s responsibility includes the creation of a security zone in the border areas of the Sumy and Kharkiv regions of Ukraine. The group’s assault units are successfully advancing in the southeastern part of Volchansk. To date, more than 80 percent of the city’s territory has been liberated.

The units of the Western Group have liberated the city of Kupyansk and continue to destroy the formations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces that have been encircled on the left bank of the Oskol River. The offensive is progressing successfully in the Rubtsovsk and Krasnolimansk directions. The Southern Group, overcoming the enemy’s resistance, is advancing through the cities of Seversk and Konstantinovka. The most active combat operations are taking place in the area of responsibility of the Central Group in the Krasnoarmeysk direction. The enemy is putting up stubborn resistance and is not giving up its attempts to break through the encirclement of the Ukrainian armed forces in the Krasnoarmeysk-Dimitrovka agglomeration. In these circumstances, the troops of the Center group continue to destroy the encircled Ukrainian formations. Over the past week, the settlements of Gnatovka, Sukhoi Yar, and Rog, which are adjacent to Krasnoarmeysk, have been liberated. The advance in Krasnoarmeysk itself is also progressing actively. More than 75 percent of the city’s territory is under our control.

The Vostok Group continues to actively expand its control zone in the Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, advancing westward to bypass the enemy’s main defensive lines. Since November 1, we have liberated more than 230 square kilometers of territory and gained control over 13 settlements: six in the Dnipropetrovsk region and seven in the Zaporizhzhia region. The Vostok Group’s advance units have reached the Gaiчур River. The offensive in this direction continues.

The Dnipro military group has also liberated the village of Malaya Tokmachka in the Zaporizhzhia region. Fighting is ongoing to capture Primorsky and Stepnogorsk. In addition, according to the General Staff’s plan, targeted retaliatory massive strikes are being carried out against Ukraine’s military-industrial complex and the energy infrastructure that supports its operations.

Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief! The formations and military units of the combined group of forces will continue to carry out the tasks of liberating the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in accordance with the approved plan.

The report is finished.

V. Putin: Thank you very much.

Please, Commander of the Southern Group of Forces, Sergey Viktorovich.

S. Medvedev: Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief!

The southern group of troops is carrying out tasks in the Severodonetsk direction in accordance with the plan of the special military operation. In the Seversk direction, the assault units of the 3rd Army are advancing along the right bank of the Seversky Donetsk River, advancing towards the settlement of Zakotnoye. In the settlement of Seversk, the city blocks are being cleared of Ukrainian Armed Forces units.

In addition, the village of Platonovka was liberated this week, and the villages of Vasyukovka and Zvanovka were cleared of enemy units.

In the Kramatorsk-Druzhkovka direction, the main efforts of the group’s formations and military units are focused on the liberation of the village of Konstantinovka. Despite the enemy’s resistance, the group’s assault units have fully taken control of the eastern and southeastern parts of the city and are now conducting a sweep of the center.

In the Aleksandrovka-Kalinovka direction, the liberation of the village of Ivanopole is being completed. At the same time, an offensive is being launched north of the Kleban-Byksky Reservoir in order to capture the dominant heights and secure access to the southern outskirts of the village of Konstantinovka.

Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief! The southern group of troops continues to conduct offensive operations in all directions. All tasks facing the group’s formations and military units will be fulfilled.

The report is finished.

V. Putin: Sergey Viktorovich, you are “cutting” Seversk.

S. Medvedev: Yes, exactly. We’re covering, blocking, and dissecting them piece by piece, and then cleaning them up.

V. Putin: You have already approached from the North, the South, and the East. Now you are approaching from the West.

S.Medvedev: Yes, that’s right. Now the main actions are being carried out on the northeastern outskirts of the settlement and on the southern outskirts, and we continue to cover the settlement, its blocking.

V.Putin: Well, how do you assess the prospects in Konstantinovka?

S. Medvedev: Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief!

The settlement of Konstantinovka – as of today, we have captured more than 4,000 buildings. We continue to increase our efforts and plan to capture most of the settlement by mid-December.

V. Putin: Let’s not set specific dates, it doesn’t matter. It’s important that we work in a rhythmic manner and achieve all the goals that you consider to be priorities.

Thank you, Sergey Viktorovich. I want to wish you success in your new position as commander. What you have been doing is very important. Staff work is crucial. However, the personal responsibility for what is happening in the group now rests on your shoulders, and this is a special responsibility.

S. Medvedev: Thank you, Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief!

V. Putin: Good day.

Please, Commander of the Western Group. Sergey Yurievich, please.

S. Kuzovlev: Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief!

The troops of the Zapad military group continue to carry out combat missions in the Izium direction in accordance with the plan approved by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

In the Kupyansk direction, the assault units of the 68th Motorized Rifle Division of the 6th Army completed the liberation of the city of Kupyansk.

V. Putin: So that’s it, we’ve finished everything?

S. Kuzovlev: Yes, exactly. The city is under our control. We are destroying small, scattered enemy groups.

The city was a key enemy defense node and an important logistics center for the Ukrainian armed forces in this area. Currently, the units and formations of the division, in cooperation with the 47th Division and the 27th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the 1st Tank Army, continue to destroy the Ukrainian armed forces formations encircled on the left bank of the Oskol River. The village of Petropavlovka has been liberated, and battles are ongoing to liberate the villages of Kucherovka, Kurilovka, and Kupyansk-Uzlovoy.

The enemy repeatedly attempted to break through the encircled group, restore the crossings over the Oskol River, and break out of the encirclement. All counterattacks were repelled, and the Ukrainian forces were prevented from breaking out of the encirclement.

In the Rubtsovsk direction, units and military formations of the 20th Army have completed the liberation of the settlements of Stavki and Novoselovka, and continue to engage in street fighting in the settlements of Drobyshevo and Yarovaya.

In the Krasno-Lyman direction, the settlement of Yampol was liberated. The assault groups of the 25th Army are actively advancing towards the city of Krasny Lyman, which is the largest railway hub in the region. The suburb of Maslyakova has also been taken under control.

Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief! The formations and military units of the Western Military District continue to carry out their assigned tasks in the designated area of responsibility.

The report is finished.

V.Putin: Sergey Yurievich, everything you said, everything you reported at the meeting on October 25, which I have already mentioned, everything related to this area of combat work, has been carried out. All the tasks that were set for you have been completed.

Thank you for this work. Thank you, all the personnel of the group, all the command staff. Thank you, comrades, for the results.

Replica: Serving the Fatherland!

V. Putin: And I have no doubt that everything we have discussed with you earlier, and what we will discuss today in a more limited format, will be carried out as we have agreed, as the General Staff has set the task, and, as I have already said, in order to achieve all the goals of the special military operation in your area, in your zone of responsibility.

Thank you very much.

S. Kuzovlev: Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the tasks will be completed. [My Emphasis]

The inability to surrender because they get targeted by their own forces IMO is coupled with the “criminal gang” description and observation that “they have too much to do” stealing money to do much of anything else, like responsibly command military forces that ought to be withdrawn instead of being told to hold at all costs, meaning to die where they are. The ongoing cinema of Zelensky moving about Europe then to the Outlaw US Empire begging for money and weapons that will then be stolen has lasted for two full years if not more. And of course, Ukrainian kleptocrats have been robbing Ukraine since 1990, and then started on the new flow of monies that began in 2013 when Nuland and her cookies arrived. Note nothing was mentioned about the supposed Trump peace plan mainly because it likely never existed. Did it get talked about once the cameras were turned off? IMO, very unlikely since it appears to be a rehash of the same old shit Russia’s rejected every time it surfaces.

So, what was “discuss[ed] today in a more limited format?” So far, the “approved plan” has not commenced any actions to cross the Dnieper to liberate the rest of Kherson and to develop operations beyond that into Odessa. Did the “approved plan” have a clause saying Kherson region will be discussed later based upon how our offensive progresses? Perhaps they want to wait for more troops to be redeployed to defend Kramatorsk and Slavyansk that will soon be subjected to assault and then launch Kherson at the new year, which is only six weeks away. As Putin said, the timing isn’t as important as completing the job.

Back to the “criminal gang” statement. I tried to find the earliest occurrence of that term. On 12 December 2023, TASS reported Thierry Mariani, a member of the European Parliament for France, saying Zelensky “behaves like a mafioso, ready to eliminate those whom he considers a threat to his own power.” And a mafioso always controls a gang who he employs in eliminating threats. However, it’s very likely Russia’s Investigative Committee on Ukraine has much earlier documentation. Note that Putin’s description differs somewhat from what he said earlier about those behind Zelensky being unfit to negotiate with. Would Putin still meet with Zelensky? He met with the former head-chopper, so anything seems possible. Perhaps one of the things Putin discussed was the political situation with there currently being no entity having agency to negotiate, and to consider plans to expand Russian territorial gains.

Good golly! Just six weeks until 2026!

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