Putin mentions Zelenskyy's photo by Kupiansk city sign: "We're 2-5 km from Kupiansk, 10 km from Sumy"
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has claimed that his forces are just over 10 km from the Ukrainian city of Sumy and between 2.5 km and 5 km from Kupiansk, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was photographed beside the city's entrance sign in December 2025.
Source: Putin in an interview with Kremlin propagandist Pavel Zarubin, the transcript of which was posted on the Kremlin website
Quote: "Let me remind you that the objective of Russian forces on the Sumy and Vovchansk fronts is to establish a security zone along our borders. This task was set after the Ukrainian Armed Forces' incursion into Kursk Oblast and attacks on our border areas. By the way, it is about 10.5 kilometres to the city of Sumy."
Details: Meanwhile, Putin was quick to claim that Russia has "no political plans regarding this city or the oblast as a whole".
"We will be guided by proposals from the Defence Ministry and the General Staff. Our troops on this front are operating actively and decisively, advancing at a rapid pace," he claimed.
Putin then turned to Kupiansk.
"I'll start with the city of Kupiansk, where representatives of the Kyiv regime like to hold photo sessions in front of the city sign. Our troops are between 2.5 km and 4-5 km from the city's western outskirts. The enemy has launched several counterattacks, but without success," the Kremlin leader said.
Russian forces had captured Kupiansk at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, but the Ukrainian Armed Forces liberated the city in September 2022.
Russian forces attempted to capture the city in autumn 2025 again.
On 2 December 2025, the Kremlin leader publicly "invited" foreign journalists, including Ukrainian reporters, to visit Pokrovsk and Kupiansk in an apparent attempt to demonstrate Russia's alleged control over the two cities.
However, on 12 December 2025, it became known that Ukraine's defence forces had conducted a successful counterattack near Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast and encircled a Russian grouping in the city. Afterwards, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the Kupiansk front and recorded a video beside the city's heavily damaged entrance sign.
Putin also mentioned Lyman, Sloviansk, which he claimed was "around 8-9 kilometres away", and Kramatorsk, which he said was "just four kilometres away".
Meanwhile, the Russian ruler made no mention of the fact that Russia has still failed to reach the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts after more than four years of its full-scale war against Ukraine.
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