Russian General Floats Deadline for End of Putin's War

Top Russian General Apti Alaudinov, commander of the Akhmat special forces unit and a staunch supporter of President Vladimir Putin, asserts that the war with Ukraine will conclude by the end of the year.

Alaudinov, who leads the Chechen forces in the conflict, was appointed by Putin in April as deputy head of the Defense Ministry's military-political department.

During a state TV broadcast with Olga Skabeyeva, Alaudinov discussed the current state of military affairs and his projection for the end of the war, which has been ongoing for over two years since Putin's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. 

Skabeyeva, along with her husband, Duma member Yevgeny Popov, was sanctioned by the U.S. State Department in 2023, partly for their "talk show where they predominantly disseminate pro-Russia propaganda for the war against Ukraine."

In a YouTube video posted Wednesday on X, formerly Twitter, by journalist Julia Davis, founder of Russian Media Monitor, a watchdog group that translates Russian videos, Skabeyeva asked Alaudinov about the slowing pace of Russian progress in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.

Without directly addressing Skabeyeva's concerns, Alaudinov claimed that Russian forces have "made a very serious breakthrough" and "liberated quite a lot of territory," suggesting that Russia had gained ground.

He further stated that Ukraine had "moved a lot of forces there, most of their units," to the northeastern region, a long-standing focal point of the war.

"This will be a decisive battle for us, in which we will destroy the remaining forces and means. After that, I believe, as I've already said earlier, we will finish the special military operation this year," the commander said, adding that "we will put an end to it."

He emphasized that "everything is proceeding as it should," and "Ultimately, we will finish all of it with a final decisive battle, which I believe will be victorious for us."

Newsweek reached out to the Russian government's press service and the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense for comment via email on Thursday.

The U.S. is a close ally of Ukraine, and since the 2022 invasion, Congress has passed five bills totaling $175 billion in aid to Kyiv, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

Much of this aid is for military support—providing weapons, training, and intelligence. Last summer, the U.S. and NATO allies agreed to send Ukraine U.S.-made F-16s.