Key developments on Dec. 16: * Russia sets 2025 goal to fully occupy 4 Ukrainian regions, Defense Minister says * 'It's a tough one,' Trump says following questions on how he plans to stop Russia's war against Ukraine * Ukraine possesses laser weapons, advanced drone technologies, commander says * North Korean troops suffer
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said during a Defense Ministry meeting on Dec. 16 that Moscow aims to seize the entirety of Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts in 2025.
Russia should prepare for multiple scenarios, including a war with NATO, in the next 10 years, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov said.
Belousov will participate in meetings with "the military and political leadership of the DPRK," the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Russian pro-war Telegram channels claimed that fighting was ongoing in the region's towns of Sudzha and Korenevo, writing that the Russian military has retreated from the Sudzha gas metering station, which transits gas to Europe through Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said U.S. drones were being used to conduct reconnaissance and find targets for "high-precision weapons supplied to the Armed Forces of Ukraine by Western states.
"During the call (with Belousov) the secretary emphasized the importance of maintaining lines of communication amidst Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine," Pentagon spokesperson Major General Pat Ryder said at a briefing on June 25.
According to Ukraine's General Staff, over half a million Russian soldiers were either killed or wounded in Ukraine during the 27-month-long full-scale war. The staggering number is in line with the estimates of the U.K. and France, which said earlier in May that the overall Russian losses are set
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a clear signal to the West last week: China stands firmly behind Russia. Putin made his first foreign trip since his inauguration to Beijing to meet with President Xi Jinping on May 16. The visit came after a cabinet reshuffle in Russia the week prior,
Russian President Vladimir Putin's appointment of a new defense minister, Andrey Belousov, is seen as an attempt to streamline Russia's economy and mobilize it for the war effort. Russia's military has faced numerous supply and logistics problems that thwarted its all-out war against Ukraine from the get-go. Two years later,
According to Ukraine's figures, Moscow lost the most number of soldiers in a single day since the start of the full-scale invasion – 1,740 – on May 12.
Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed on May 12 that Andrei Belousov, a former aide and Russia's economy minister from 2012-2013, should replace Sergei Shoigu as defense minister in a surprise reshuffle of Russia's security and defense apparatus.
Integrating the military with Russia's economy is a key task for its Defense Ministry, soon-to-be-appointed Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov told the Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament, on May 14.
Belousov was Russia's economy minister in 2012-2013, an aide to Putin in 2013-2020, and first deputy prime minister in 2020-2024.
