Russia's top military officer says Ukraine front stable, most forces concentrated on Donetsk

Russia's Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov said on Thursday that the frontline in Ukraine was stable, and that Russia had concentrated its forces on "completing the liberation" of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region. Russian forces control almost all of Luhansk region, but only around 60% of Donetsk region.

Russia's Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov said on Thursday that the frontline in Ukraine was stable, and that Russia had concentrated its forces on "completing the liberation" of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region. In an end of year message delivered to foreign military attaches and published by the defence ministry, Russia's top military officer said: "The situation on the front line has stabilised, with the main efforts of the Russian troops concentrated on completing the liberation of the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic."

Russia has, since its retreat from Kyiv in April, framed its war aims as taking full control of the eastern Donbas region, of which Donetsk region makes up half, alongside neighbouring Luhansk region. Russian forces control almost all of Luhansk region, but only around 60% of Donetsk region. Since August, they have been bogged down in a costly and extended fight for Bakhmut, a Donetsk region industrial town with a pre-war population of around 70,000.