Wars 2022 02/24 Monitoring Russian and Ukraine War.

Saif · Dec 31, 2025

Russia's Putin, in New Year address, voices confidence in victory in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin used his annual televised New Year's address to rally his troops fighting in Ukraine, saying he believed in them and in victory in a war that he has framed as part of an existential struggle with the West. US President Donald Trump is trying to broker an end to the

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Russia's Putin, in New Year address, voices confidence in victory in Ukraine

REUTERS
Published :
Dec 31, 2025 23:58
Updated :
Dec 31, 2025 23:58

Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Deputy Minister of Defence and Chair of Defenders of the Fatherland Foundation Anna Tsivileva in Moscow, Russia, Dec 30, 2025. Photo : Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via REUTERS

Russian President Vladimir Putin used his annual televised New Year's address to rally his troops fighting in Ukraine, saying he believed in them and in victory in a war that he has framed as part of an existential struggle with the West.

US President Donald Trump is trying to broker an end to the nearly four-year-old conflict, Europe's bloodiest conflagration since World War Two, with both sides' negotiating stances still far apart.

Dressed in a black coat, Putin - whose forces are advancing slowly but steadily in Ukraine - spoke about Russia's destiny and the unity of its people, which he said guaranteed the sovereignty and security of the "Fatherland".

He paid tribute in particular to his forces fighting in Ukraine, calling them heroes.

"Millions of people across Russia — I assure you — are with you on this New Year's Eve," said Putin.

"They are thinking of you, empathising with you, hoping for you. I wish all our soldiers and commanders a happy coming New Year! We believe in you and our Victory!"

His speech, which was first broadcast in Russia's far east, came as Russia released video footage of what it said was a downed drone, presenting it as evidence that Ukraine had tried this week to attack a presidential residence. Kyiv has dismissed Russia's allegation as a lie designed to derail peace talks.

In another video released on Wednesday, Russia's top general told troops to keep carving out buffer zones in Ukraine's Sumy and Kharkiv regions and said Moscow's forces had advanced faster in December than in any other month in 2025.

Reuters could not verify his battlefield assertion.

Saif · Jan 1, 2026

Zelensky says deal to end war '10 per cent' away

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday his country was "10 per cent" away from a deal to end the war with Russia, but cautioned that the most important issues were unresolved and warned against rewarding Moscow. US-led efforts to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II...

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Zelensky says deal to end war '10 per cent' away

AFP Kyiv, Ukraine
Updated: 01 Jan 2026, 09: 56

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky talks during a media conference after a meeting of the 'coalition of the willing' international partners on Ukraine in London on 24 October, 2025. AFP

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday his country was "10 per cent" away from a deal to end the war with Russia, but cautioned that the most important issues were unresolved and warned against rewarding Moscow.

US-led efforts to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II have gained pace in recent weeks, but both sides remain at odds over the key issue of territory in a post-war settlement.

Russia, which occupies around 20 per cent of Ukraine, is pushing for full control of the country's eastern Donbas region as part of a deal -- but Kyiv has warned ceding ground will embolden Moscow.

In his New Year's Eve address, Zelensky said his country wanted an end to the war but not at "any cost", and that any agreement needed strong security guarantees to deter Russia from invading again.

"The peace agreement is 90 per cent ready. Ten per cent remains. And that is far more than just numbers," Zelensky said in the address, posted on his Telegram account.

"Those are the 10 per cent that will determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe," he added.

Zelensky's speech came just hours after US officials, including top envoy Steve Witkoff, held a call with Ukrainian and European security advisers on the next steps to end the nearly four-year conflict.

The war, now entering its fifth calendar year, has resulted in a tidal wave of destruction that has displaced millions and left entire Ukrainian cities in ruins.

'Believe in victory'

President Vladimir Putin urged Russians to believe in victory in Ukraine during his annual New Year's Eve address, his fourth since the war began.

The Russian leader has consistently told his citizens that the military intends to seize the rest of Ukrainian land he has proclaimed as Russian by force if talks fail.

Addressing soldiers, whom he called "heroes", Putin said in his address: "We believe in you and our victory."

The Kremlin said this week it would "toughen" its negotiating position on ending the war, after accusing Ukraine of launching dozens of drones at Putin's lakeside residence in the Novgorod region between Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

Moscow on Wednesday published footage of a drone it said Kyiv had sent toward the residence.

Russia has called it a "personal" and "terrorist attack" and against Putin, saying it will toughen its negotiation stance in the Ukraine war talks.

The video, shot at night, showed a damaged drone lying in the snow in a forested area. The defence ministry said the alleged attack was "targeted, carefully planned and carried out in stages."

The US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which documents the Ukraine-Russia conflict, said Tuesday it had not seen any "footage or reporting that typically follows Ukrainian deep strikes to corroborate the Kremlin's claims of Ukrainian strikes threatening Putin's residence in Novgorod Oblast".

Putin has not publicly commented on the attack -- aside from the Kremlin saying he had informed Trump about it in a call -- and Moscow has not said where the Russian leader was at the time.

Putin's residences and private life are shrouded in secrecy in Russia.

Saif · Jan 2, 2026

Ukraine denies targeting civilians in Russia

The Ukrainian army said Friday it only hit ‘military targets’, a day after Russia accused Kyiv of firing drones at a hotel and cafe in Ukraine’s occupied south, killing 27 people.

www.newagebd.net

Ukraine denies targeting civilians in Russia
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 03 January, 2026, 01:10

Ukrainian firefighters extinguish a fire in a residential building following a Russian air strike in Kharkiv on Friday amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. | AFP photo

The Ukrainian army said Friday it only hit ‘military targets’, a day after Russia accused Kyiv of firing drones at a hotel and cafe in Ukraine’s occupied south, killing 27 people.

Russian-installed authorities in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region said those killed were revellers celebrating the New Year and that two of the dead were children, describing the incident as a ‘terrorist act’.

A source in Ukraine’s defence forces confirmed a strike took place, but said the attack targeted a military gathering that was closed to civilians.

AFP was not able to verify either account.

The hotel where Moscow says the strike took place lies in Khorly, a Black Sea resort town the Russian army has occupied since early 2022.

The region’s Russian-installed governor, Vladimir Saldo, published images on Thursday that appeared to show the burned-out interior of a building as well as fragments of charred bodies.

In comments to AFP, Ukrainian army spokesman Dmytro Lykhoviy accused Russia of repeatedly resorting to ‘disinformation and false statements’.

‘Ukraine’s defence forces adhere to the norms of international humanitarian law and strike exclusively at enemy military targets,’ he said.

Ukraine’s foreign intelligence service said in a statement earlier Friday that Russia was preparing to orchestrate a ‘large-scale provocation with human casualties’, without providing immediate evidence.

The accusations come at a crunch moment in the nearly four-year conflict, the deadliest on European soil since World War II.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said in a New Year’s Eve address that a US-brokered peace deal was ‘90 per cent’ ready, though the most important issue of territory remains unresolved.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, describing it as a ‘special military operation’ to prevent the expansion of NATO—a war aim that Kyiv has called a lie.

Moscow has since captured large swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine, while firing on Ukrainian towns and cities in daily drone and missile attacks deadly for civilians.

Saif · Jan 5, 2026

Patient killed in Russian strike on Kyiv clinic

Russia bombarded Ukraine early Monday with strikes that hit a medical clinic in Kyiv, forcing night-time evacuations into freezing temperatures and killing two people, including a patient at the facility.

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Patient killed in Russian strike on Kyiv clinic

Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 06 January, 2026, 01:19

Russia bombarded Ukraine early Monday with strikes that hit a medical clinic in Kyiv, forcing night-time evacuations into freezing temperatures and killing two people, including a patient at the facility.

The barrage comes on the eve of a diplomatic summit in France involving Ukraine and its security allies — the latest in a US-led push to end the Russian invasion, which began four years ago next month.

The Russian strikes triggered a fire at a private medical clinic in the capital, killing one person and wounding three others, the authorities said.

Emergency services released images of rescuers removing people on stretchers from a gutted building.

‘Doctors and nurses were forced to evacuate the wounded under fire,’ Ukraine’s prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on X.

‘It was a terrible night for us,’ Margaryta Maliovana, the clinic’s CEO, said.

‘One person died. A young man, 30-year-old, was killed,’ she said, adding that there were 26 patients in the clinic at the moment of the strike.

The pre-dawn attack also killed one man in his 70s in the neighbouring city of Fastiv, the Kyiv regional governor said.

The strikes caused power outages in the area, with backup systems activated to maintain water and heating supplies, the official said, as temperatures dropped to —8C.

Russia launched a total of 165 drones and at least nine missiles overnight, the Ukrainian air force said.

European leaders are set to meet in Paris on Tuesday, seeking a breakthrough on a plan to end the fighting that Kyiv says is ‘90 percent’ ready.

‘This week, we will be working with our European and American partners to ensure that Ukraine has the assistance it needs,’ Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday.

To lay the groundwork, security advisers from 15 countries, including Britain, France and Germany as well as representatives from NATO and the European Union, gathered in Kyiv over the weekend.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff joined the talks virtually, a Ukrainian official said, though the United States’ large-scale military attack on Venezuela earlier in the day overshadowed proceedings.

Another preparatory meeting, between chiefs of staff, is scheduled for Monday.

Diplomatic efforts to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II have gained pace in recent weeks, though both Moscow and Kyiv remain at odds over the key issue of territory in a post-war settlement.

Russia, which occupies around 20 per cent of Ukraine, is pushing for full control of the country’s eastern Donbas region as part of a deal.

But Kyiv has warned that ceding ground will embolden Moscow and said it will not sign a peace deal that fails to deter Russia from invading again.

On Monday, Russia said it had seized the village of Grabovske in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, from where Kyiv had last month accused Moscow of forcibly relocating dozens of residents.

Bombarded daily and losing ground, Ukraine has responded with its own drone attacks launched towards Russian territory, targeting in particular energy infrastructure that funds the war effort.

US president Donald Trump on Sunday dismissed claims by Moscow that Kyiv had launched a drone at one of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s residences.

‘I don’t believe that strike happened,’ Trump said in response to a reporter’s question aboard Air Force One. Kyiv has also rejected the accusation.

Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, triggering a conflict that has killed tens, if not hundreds, of thousands, devastated eastern Ukraine and forced millions to flee their homes.

Putin has vowed to press on with his military campaign if his hard-line demands are not met at the negotiating table.

Russia in 2025 gained the most ground on the battlefield since the first year of its offensive, according to AFP analysis.

Saif · Jan 7, 2026

Russia attacks two Ukrainian ports, Kyiv says

Russia attacked two seaports in Ukraine's Odesa region on Wednesday, killing one person and injuring eight others, Ukrainian officials said. Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukraine's ports and foreign-flagged vessels sailing from them in recent weeks, after President Vladimir Putin vowed to cut Ukr

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Russia attacks two Ukrainian ports, Kyiv says

REUTERS
Published :
Jan 08, 2026 00:25
Updated :
Jan 08, 2026 00:25

Russia attacked two seaports in Ukraine's Odesa region on Wednesday, killing one person and injuring eight others, Ukrainian officials said.

Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukraine's ports and foreign-flagged vessels sailing from them in recent weeks, after President Vladimir Putin vowed to cut Ukraine off from the sea in retaliation for Kyiv's strikes on unregulated oil tankers sailing to Russia.

Ukraine's seaport administration said the attacked ports were Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi, both key export arteries for Ukraine's commodity-heavy economy.

"This is yet another attack by a terrorist country on port infrastructure that is involved in ensuring global food security," deputy prime minister Oleksiy Kuleba said.

Moscow attacked the Odesa region seaports 96 times in 2025, Ukraine's seaports authority told Reuters on Wednesday, nearly triple the number of attacks in 2024.

Port facilities, administrative buildings and tanks containing vegetable oil were damaged in Wednesday's attacks, Kuleba said, adding that the ports were continuing to operate even as the damage was being cleared.

Russia escalated strikes on Ukrainian ports in December after Ukraine conducted strikes on empty "shadow fleet" tankers, which Moscow uses to ship its oil to buyers despite Western sanctions. Kyiv has long sought to curtail this revenue stream, which it says is funding Russia's war in Ukraine.