Kremlin leader vladimir putin has likely not changed his goals in the war against Ukraine and is determined to win.
This is stated in the annual report 2025 Worldwide Threat Assessment, prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) for Congress as of May 11, 2025.
The document notes that Moscow is betting on a strategy of attrition and is trying to undermine Ukraine's ability to resist, demoralize its population and wait for Western support to decline. Despite the slow pace of progress, the russian military command probably finds them acceptable.
“Putin almost certainly remains committed to victory in Ukraine, and his goals have largely remained unchanged since the beginning of the war: the neutrality of Ukraine and the further division of the Ukrainian state. In the absence of a negotiated settlement or, alternatively, strong support from the West, the situation on the battlefield is likely to continue to slowly shift in russia’s favor through 2025, although the pace of russian advances is slowing and accompanied by significant losses in personnel and equipment,” the report says.
Since the start of the full-scale aggression, russia has lost more than 700,000 troops, including at least 170,000 killed, and more than 10,000 pieces of military equipment, including 3,000 tanks. About 250 aircraft and helicopters have also been lost.
Despite this, russian forces continue to advance gradually in eastern Ukraine and are bringing in additional forces, including more than 10,000 North Korean troops on the Kursk Axis to support the offensive.
In addition, russia is actively using kamikaze drones and long-range missiles, attacking critical Ukrainian infrastructure in order to break its will to resist.
The report also says that putin has not abandoned his goal of imposing post-war neutrality on Ukraine, limiting its military potential, and further fragmenting the state.
"While putin and his military leadership would likely prefer faster battlefield successes, Moscow appears to be content with the current slow pace of advance, believing that in this way it can gradually exhaust Ukraine's resources and its will to resist, as well as wait out the decline in support from the West," the intelligence community believes.
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