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MOSCOW (AP) \u2014 Russian President Vladimir Putin<\/a> declared Tuesday that the military has seized the initiative on the battlefield in Ukraine after repelling Kyiv’s counteroffensive and is well positioned to achieve Moscow’s goals.<\/p>\n Putin’s speech at a meeting with top military brass came a day after he presented documents to Russia\u2019s Central Election Commission to seek reelection in the March presidential vote<\/a> that he’s all but certain to win.<\/p>\n \u201cOur troops are holding the initiative,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are effectively doing what we think is needed, doing what we want. Where our commanders consider it necessary to stick to active defenses they are doing so, and we are improving our positions where it’s needed.\u201d<\/p>\n The Russian leader hailed the troops for repelling Ukrainian attacks during the summer counteroffensive.<\/p>\n \u201cThe enemy has suffered heavy casualties and to a large extent wasted its reserves while trying to show at least some results of its so-called counteroffensive to its masters,\u201d Putin said, adding that \u201dthe myth about invulnerability of Western weapons also has collapsed.”<\/p>\n \u201cAll attempts by the West to deliver us a military defeat, a strategic defeat, were shattered by the courage and fortitude of our soldiers, the growing might of our armed forces and the potential of our military industries,\u201d Putin said.<\/p>\n During the counteroffensive that began in early June, Ukrainian forces have failed to make any significant gains as they faced multiecheloned Russian defensive lines, including sprawling minefields.<\/p>\n Speaking at the same meeting, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu<\/a><\/span> said that the Russian minefields spread for 7,000 kilometers (more than 4,300 miles).<\/p>\n Shoigu said that 650,000 Russian soldiers have received combat experience in Ukraine, turning the Russian army into \u201cthe best prepared and capable army in the world, armed with advanced weapons that have been tested in combat.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDespite the sanctions, we produce more high-tech weapons than NATO countries,\u201d Shoigu said.<\/p>\n He declared that the Russian arms industries have increased the output of tanks by 5.6 times, the number of drones built by 16.8 times and bolstered the production of artillery munitions by 17.5 times since the start of what the Kremlin calls \u201cthe special military operation\u201d in Ukraine.<\/p>\n Shoigu said the military has received more than 1,500 new and modernized tanks, more than 2,500 armored infantry vehicles and 237 new planes and helicopters.<\/p>\n The minister said Russia’s armed forces were finalizing preparations for putting the Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile on combat duty and also building the infrastructure for the deployment of the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile and the Poseidon atomic-powered, nuclear-armed underwater drone.<\/p>\n