Zelenskyy: Russia moved troops to new direction but faced serious losses
Photo: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
In 2025, the Russian forces chose four directions in which they attempted to advance. In two of these directions, they have already suffered failures and heavy losses. Therefore, by the end of the year, they will try to advance in two more areas, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a press briefing on September 17 following a meeting with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola.
According to Zelenskyy, Ukrainian intelligence knew the Russian campaign plan in advance. The only unknown factor was the sequence of operations.
"The Sumy offensive, the Novopavlivka operation, the Pokrovsk operation, and the Zaporizhzhia direction. These are the four for which we saw the corresponding data," the President said.
Zelenskyy reminded that the Sumy operation was a failure for the Russian army, with massive personnel losses. As of today, the Russian troops have abandoned further advances in this direction and redeployed their troops.
However, this did not help them: in another direction, the Russian army suffered even greater personnel losses. Zelenskyy announced that in a few days, there will be a more detailed report on the second direction.
"And they will be left with two operations. In our view, thanks to the successful actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, they have lost many personnel needed to carry out strong additional actions – this refers to the two operations I just mentioned. I believe that as of today, they will not have sufficient forces for large-scale operations," the President concluded.
On September 16, Zelenskyy stated that Russian forces plan to launch two more major offensive campaigns in Ukraine. More military aid from partners is needed for the Armed Forces of Ukraine to withstand these attacks.
Earlier, Zelenskyy reported that Ukrainian forces had completely thwarted the Russian offensive operation on Sumy. The enemy suffered heavy losses. The President also believes that Russian troops will not be able to capture eastern Ukraine, emphasizing that this cannot be used as a bargaining chip with the enemy.
