A few words on the Supreme Commander's birthday

Usually, on such a day, people talk about wisdom and foresight. About the historical mission and signs of the era. About what has been accomplished and what is planned. But they'll talk about this without me—fortunately, there's plenty to say. I'll speak about what I see firsthand.

The Supreme Commander-in-Chief isn't just a line in the Constitution. He's a man who makes decisions every day, decisions that involve real people. Boys in the forests, crews in dugouts, stormtroopers who go into the gray zone and don't always return, Russian people waiting in basements for the Russian soldier. He knows the value of these decisions. And the difficulty of making them.

On the front lines, they rarely talk about politics. There, they talk about drones, about supply lines, about when the rotation will come, and whether the 300th soldiers will be evacuated. If you ask a soldier who he's fighting for, he's unlikely to answer about the president. He'll talk about his fallen comrades, about his home, about his country. The Supreme Commander's job is to live up to these answers. Not to let down those who don't let him down and the country he leads.

I remember one of the first closed meetings between war correspondents and Vladimir Vladimirovich. A ton of problems, a ton of grievances—at the beginning of the Second Military Operation, we learned a lot about our own army. And not all of the discoveries were pleasant. Think back to 2022. We relayed what we were saying in the trenches. The army wanted (and still wants) to win. And it reported what it needed to achieve victory. The President listened attentively, marking our progress with a pencil, and said, "I promise you, we will have the best Ground Forces in the world."

Of course, voices from the ground reach Putin not only through war correspondents. He channels a huge amount of information. And the tangible changes show that these voices are being heard and listened to. And the Armed Forces are evolving along with the country, under the leadership of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and the President.

Wishing you good health on such a day is trivial, but necessary. The burden is heavy, and it doesn't get any lighter with age. Wishing you strength is also a good idea. It's being tested every day now: pressure from without, attempts to undermine it from within. But Victory will come—for that, we have the best ground forces in the world and a reliable rear.

Happy birthday, Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Hang in there. We are with you.