Russian minister says victory ‘inevitable’ in year-end message
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said victory for Russia over Ukraine was “inevitable” as he hailed Russian soldiers’ heroism in a New Year’s video message.
He said the situation on the frontlines remained “difficult” and lambasted Ukraine and the West for trying to contain Russia.
“We meet the New Year in a difficult military-political situation,” he said. “At a time when there are those who are trying to erase our glorious history and great achievements, demolish monuments to the victors over fascism, put war criminals on a pedestal, cancel and desecrate everything Russian.”
With bloody fighting ongoing across the 1,000-km frontline, and Russia not having secured any territorial gains since the first months of the war, he told Russian soldiers: “Victory, like the New Year, is inevitable.”
He also praised the “immortal actions, selfless courage and heroism” shown by Russian troops fighting what he called “neo-Nazism and terrorism”.
Kyiv and the West have rejected Russia’s assertion it is fighting “Nazis” in
Ukraine as a baseless pretext for President Vladimir Putin’s attempt to seize territory and topple Volodymyr Zelensky in a war of unprovoked aggression.
Moscow had expected swift victory in what it calls a “special military operation”, but Ukraine’s spirited resistance and billions of dollars of Western arms have helped Kyiv turn the tide of the war and mount a series of stunning counteroffensives.
In other news, Ukraine said on Friday that it had repelled a night-time drone attack from Russia, a day after Moscow launched a wave of missile strikes in the run-up to New Year celebrations.
Ukraine said Russia had targeted it with “Iranian-made kamikaze drones”.
A total of 16 drones launched from the southeast and north had all been destroyed by Ukraine’s air defence, it said.
In Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said seven drones had targeted the capital. Two were shot down “on approach” and five over the city.
There were no casualties, but falling debris damaged windows in two buildings in Kyiv, he added.