"We will finish them off" (Vladimir Putin)

The Russian president is confident: his armed forces are in a very good position to "achieve all announced objectives" on the front line.

This Friday, 28 March, while meeting Russian sailors in Murmansk, the Kremlin leader stated that his army had "the strategic initiative" on the front line. "Across the entire front line, our forces have the strategic initiative (...). There are reasons to believe that we will finish them off", he declared.

He continued: "We're gradually moving, perhaps not as quickly as someone would like, but insistently and with certainty, to achieve all announced objectives" at the start of the war. Furthermore, Vladimir Putin believes that "the Ukrainian people themselves should understand what is happening". 

A spring offensive?

While Russian forces continue to announce the capture of new Ukrainian localities, as well as the recapture of villages occupied in Kursk, Volodymyr Zelensky acknowledges that Moscow is putting "maximum pressure" in the Kursk region, where the Ukrainian army managed to make a breakthrough in August 2024. Kiev wishes to maintain its grip on this Russian region in order to use it as a bargaining chip in the event of peace negotiations.

The Ukrainian president is convinced that his Russian counterpart is trying to buy time to prepare "a spring offensive."

(MH with Manon Pierre - Source: BFMTV - Picture: ©picture alliance / Anadolu | Kremlin Press Office)