ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, December 24, 2024

Key Takeaways from ISW:

• A senior Russian official reiterated Russian President Vladimir Putin’s insistence that negotiations with Ukraine must be based on the same uncompromising demands he made before the full-scale invasion and at the moment of Russia’s greatest territorial gains, despite the fact that Ukraine has liberated significant amount of territory since then.
• The Kremlin’s economic limitations will likely hinder its efforts to impose policies combatting long-term demographic decline in Russia.
• A Russian cargo ship sank in the Mediterranean Sea on December 23, possibly while traveling from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok via Syria and Libya.
• The United States provided Ukraine on December 24 with the first tranche of loans generated solely from profits from frozen Russian assets.
• Russian forces recently advanced near Pokrovsk, Toretsk, Vuhledar, Velyka Novosilka, and in Kursk Oblast.
• Russian Security Council Deputy Chairperson Dmitry Medvedev claimed on December 24 that 440,000 recruits signed military service contracts with the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) in 2024.

Authors: Christina Harward, Nicole Wolkov, Grace Mappes, William Runkel, and George Barros.

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