KYIV, January 2 ------ Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed that his country would use 2025 to fight for an end to Russia’s nearly three-year-long invasion by any means necessary. The Ukrainian leader’s address caps a difficult year for the war-battered country which has been fending off a better-resourced Russian army for nearly three years. “May 2025 be our year,” Zelensky said in an address to the nation just before the clock struck midnight in Kyiv. “We know that peace will not be given to us as a gift but we will do everything to stop Russia and end the war.”
Ukraine lost seven times more territory to Russia this year than in 2023, according to an AFP analysis, and is facing the possibility of a reduction in US military and political backing when Donald Trump takes over the White House. Incumbent US President Joe Biden’s administration unveiled almost $6 billion in military and budget aid for Ukraine in a race to support Kyiv before Trump takes office in January. The Republican has promised to end the conflict in “24 hours” once in power, raising fears in Ukraine that it will be forced to give up all the land the Kremlin currently controls in exchange for peace.
‘I must fight’
In his new year’s address Zelensky said that Ukraine had to continue to fight to gain the upper hand — both on the battlefield and ahead of any prospective peace talks. “Every day in the coming year, I, and all of us, must fight for a Ukraine that is strong enough,” the Ukrainian leader said. “Because only such a Ukraine is respected and heard. Both on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.”
But Zelensky appeared sanguine about Trump’s return. “I have no doubt that the new American President is willing and capable of achieving peace and ending (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s aggression,” Zelensky said.
In his own New Year’s Eve address on Tuesday, Putin did not explicitly mention the war in Ukraine but praised Russia’s soldiers for their “courage and bravery”. “You are true heroes who have undertaken the great military labor to defend Russia,” he said.
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov paid tribute to “fallen soldiers” in his address, saying that they had died fighting “Nazism” a pretext Putin used to launch his invasion. Since that began in February 2022, Moscow has launched overnight aerial attacks on Ukraine almost every day. Those have targeted military and civilian infrastructure, including the power grid.
Ukraine has stepped up its own attacks inside Russian territory in response, and urged its Western allies to supply more air defense systems. A Ukrainian drone strike in western Russia caused a fuel spill and fire at an oil depot, a Russian regional governor said earlier on Tuesday.
Source: inquirer.net
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