Putin taunts Zelensky, sends his party to occupied Ukraine amid Trump pressure for election in Kyiv?

In a meeting at the Kremlin, Secretary of the General Council of United Russia Vladimir Yakushev briefs President Vladimir Putin on the party’s implementation of instructions from the December 2024 congress, highlighting that 890 participants in the “special military operation” won mandates in the 2025 Single Voting Day, up sharply from 304 in 2024. Yakushev outlines how these veterans now sit in regional, municipal and other legislative bodies, are mentored at every level, and are expected to keep social support for servicemen and their families under “special control,” a goal Putin publicly endorses. He also stresses the strengthening of grassroots party structures, the alignment of United Russia’s People’s Programme with presidential decrees and national projects, and continued humanitarian and volunteer work, including the delivery of 140,000 tonnes of aid to border and “historical” regions and cleanup operations on the Black Sea coast.​