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

‘We believe in you and our victory,’ Putin says in address, 26 years to the day from when he first assumed presidency, and calls on Russians to support the troops.Published On 31 Dec 2025Russian 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.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4Have Russian claims of Ukraine attack on Putin home ended hopes for peace?list 2 of 4Bitter recriminations between Russia, Ukraine as war eclipses peace pushlist 3 of 4Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,406list 4 of 4Russia deploys hypersonic Oreshnik missiles in Belarus amid Europe tensionsend of list“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.