Putin says Russia believes it will win in Ukraine in New Year’s Eve address 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his country believes it will win the war in Ukraine, nearly four years after he launched an invasion of the neighbouring nation, in comments made during his televised annual New Year’s Eve address.

The Russian leader called on the country on Wednesday to “support our heroes” fighting in Ukraine, where troops have been waging a brutal offensive since February 2022.

“We believe in you and our victory,” he said, although the outcome of the conflict remains far from determined amid concerted peace negotiations and ongoing intensive fighting on the battlefield.

The speech came 26 years after Putin’s predecessor, Boris Yeltsin, unexpectedly announced his resignation during his New Year’s Eve address, handing power at the turn of the millennium to Putin, a former intelligence officer turned politician who had served for months as his prime minister.

Putin has since reshaped the country in his image, and made several positive references to the rule of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and sought to banish what he has described as years of humiliation after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.

He devastated the breakaway republic of Chechnya, invaded Georgia and propped up the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, before it fell years later, with heavy bombing of civilians in opposition areas.

There have been fears in Europe that the Kremlin’s Ukraine war could spillover into its borders if it doesn’t end soon.

Earlier, Russia’s defence ministry had released a video that it claimed showed a downed drone that had been involved in an attempted Ukrainian attack on one of Putin’s residences in Novgorod, a region in northwestern Russia, this week.

Kyiv denies any attack took place, accusing Moscow of having fabricated the claim in a false flag attempt to justify further aggression. Russia has said it will take a harder line in US-brokered peace negotiations over Ukraine as a result of the alleged attack, which it has labelled a “terrorist” act.

Moscow has said that the alleged attack was thwarted when 91 drones were shot down by air defences, and that no one was injured and Putin’s residence was unscathed.

The video, shot at night in the dark, showed a damaged drone lying in the snow in a forested area. The ministry also published a video with a man it called a witness, saying he was a local villager from the settlement of Roshchino.

Russia’s claim of the attack prompted statements of concern from the United Arab Emirates, India and Pakistan, prompting Kyiv in turn to criticise them for weighing in on an attack it says never took place.

But the Russian claim has been viewed with more scepticism by Ukraine’s Western allies.

On Wednesday, Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s top diplomat, accused Russia of trying to “derail” peace talks with its “unfounded claims”.

“Russia’s claim that Ukraine recently targeted key government sites in Russia is a deliberate distraction. Moscow aims to derail real progress towards peace by Ukraine and its Western partners,” she posted on X.

“No one should accept unfounded claims from the aggressor who has indiscriminately targeted Ukraine’s infrastructure and civilians since the start of the war.”

Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said that six people had been injured in overnight Russian drone attacks on apartment buildings and the power grid in the southern city of Odesa.

A toddler and two other children were among those injured, while four apartment buildings were damaged in the bombardment, according to regional military administration head Oleh Kiper.

Power company DTEK said two of its energy facilities suffered significant damage. “Restoring the ‌equipment to working ‌condition will ⁠take time,” DTEK said in ‌a statement.

The attacks came as Russia’s top general said its ‍forces were pressing ‍forward in the regions of Sumy and Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine, seeking to expand what Moscow calls a buffer zone in the territory in 2026, Russian media outlets reported.

Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov said ​Putin had ordered the expansion next year of the so-called buffer ‍zone near the Russian border, RIA reported.

Putin has repeatedly described the buffer zone as a way to drive ‌Ukrainian forces further from ⁠Russia’s border, while Kyiv has rejected the concept, calling it an ‌idea Russia is using to justify deeper incursions into Ukrainian territory.