DOHA, Jan 3: Russia closed 2025 facing massive battlefield losses and little territorial progress, even as Moscow projected defiance and delayed any move toward peace talks, according to assessments cited by Al Jazeera.
The year ended with a dramatic claim from Moscow. On December 29, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused Ukraine of trying to assassinate President Vladimir Putin by launching 91 long range drones at his Valdai residence near Novgorod. Lavrov said Russian air defence shot down all drones but did not clarify if Putin was present at the time, Al Jazeera reported.
Kyiv rejected the allegation outright. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Russia failed to present any credible proof and insisted no such attack took place. Two days later, Russian authorities released photos of drone debris in snow, yet independent observers could not verify the location, origin, or timing. Russian opposition outlet Sota cited local residents who said they heard no air defence activity that night, casting further doubt on Moscow’s account, according to Al Jazeera.
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The timing of the claim raised questions. It surfaced a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met United States President Donald Trump in Florida, where Ukraine secured a first ever US pledge to join post war security guarantees. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the talks raised hope that the war could end early in 2026. Zelenskyy also announced meetings of the so called Coalition of the Willing in Kyiv and France in early January, Al Jazeera noted.
That optimism dimmed quickly. Lavrov said Russia would review its negotiating position, and on the same day Putin ordered troops to push further into southern Ukraine, including remaining parts of Zaporizhia region not under Russian control. Zelenskyy accused Moscow of seeking excuses to raise tensions and derail diplomacy following his talks with Trump, Al Jazeera reported.
Trump appeared uneasy about the alleged drone incident, saying attacks on a leader’s residence crossed a line. Still, senior US officials expressed doubt. NATO ambassador Matthew Whitaker said it was unclear the incident happened at all, and later US intelligence concluded Ukraine did not target Putin’s residence, according to reporting referenced by Al Jazeera.
On the battlefield, Russia’s own messaging clashed with independent assessments. Putin staged briefings with top generals around the time of Zelenskyy’s US visit. Military chief Valery Gerasimov claimed Russian forces seized more than 6,600 square kilometres and hundreds of settlements in 2025. Analysts from the Institute for the Study of War said confirmed Russian presence covered far less ground, Al Jazeera cited.
Ukraine’s commander in chief Oleksandr Syrskii said Russia gained only about 0.8 percent of Ukraine’s territory in 2025, at the cost of nearly 420,000 Russian troops killed or wounded. Ukraine estimates total Russian casualties since the war began at over 1.2 million, alongside huge equipment losses, according to figures reported by Al Jazeera.
Despite months of fighting, Russia failed to capture key targets such as Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad in Donetsk. It also struggled in parts of Zaporizhia and Kharkiv, with even pro Kremlin military bloggers admitting Russian units faced setbacks due to inflated reports sent up the chain of command, Al Jazeera noted.
As doubts lingered over the Valdai claim, Russia’s strikes on Ukrainian cities continued. In the final week of 2025 alone, Moscow launched more than 1,000 drones and dozens of missiles. Ukrainian air defences intercepted most of them, underlining that the war ended the year much as it began, costly, unresolved, and far from peace, as reported by Al Jazeera.
