Here is the latest map of the military situation in eastern Ukraine, as issued by Kyiv's National Security and Defense Council (click to enlarge):
So, Vladimir Putin didn't waste much time getting to the subject of Ukraine and the annexed Crimean peninsula in his annual address to the nation, which is currently under way in Moscow (from RFE/RL's news desk):
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of acting "cynically and aggressively" and said that Russia will never bend to the will of foreign countries, talking tough in an annual address after a year of conflict and crisis that has severely strained Moscow's ties with the United States and Europe.
In a combative state-of-the-nation address televised live from the Kremlin today (December 4), Putin first thanked his audience for getting Russia through what he called a "test only a mature, united nation" could survive.
He said sanctions imposed by the United States and EU over Russia's annexation of Crimea and its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine were meant to undermine the country, but asserted that they were instead stimulating Russia's economy.
Putin said Crimea was of "sacred importance" to Russia and that Moscow would treat it as Jews and Muslims treat holy sites in Jerusalem, signaling that the Kremlin will never hand the peninsula back to Ukraine.
He said the "tragedy" in eastern Ukraine showed that Russia's policies were "right."
Putin accused the West of trying to break Russia apart during the 1990s, like Yugoslavia, but said "they failed, just as Hitler failed."
(With reporting by Reuters)