When Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the Russian people during his annual speech to the nation last February, his war in Ukraine was losing steam. Three months before his speech, Russian forces withdrew from the Ukrainian city of Kherson, despite Putin declaring the region (along with Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia) part of the Russian Federation. In September 2022, the Russian army was caught unprepared, undermanned, and under-equipped as Ukrainian forces pressed a blitzkrieg-like counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region. Putin didn't mince words, calling the war a "difficult, watershed period for our country."
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