President Vladimir Putin said Russian forces have bolstered their positions across the entire front line in Ukraine after what he said was the failure of Ukraine's counteroffensive this year. Putin's decision in 2022 to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine started a war which has left swathes of Ukraine devastated and hundreds of thousands of people dead or injured. Russia currently controls about 17.5% of Ukrainian territory and a four-month-old Ukrainian counteroffensive this year by Ukrainian forces has made almost no net territorial gains, according to Western analyses of the territory held by Russia.