Russian President Vladimir Putin admits that he cannot tell his army to recover the section of the western Kursk region held by Ukrainian forces since August by a specific date, explaining that "to say 'whatever it takes, don't count the losses'? We can't do that." During his televised end-of-year press conference, Putin also insists that "everything will be rebuilt" in the region, adding that 108 billion rubles (1 billion euros) had been allocated for those purposes. SOUNDBITES