WAR IN UKRAINE
Russia rings in new year with mass drone strike on Ukraine, Putin says he’s confident of victory
“I would give anything in the world if, in this address, I could say that peace will also come in just a few minutes,” Ukraine’s Zelenskyy said just before midnight on New Year’s Eve.
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia rang in the new year by launching more than 200 drones at Ukraine, while President Vladimir Putin used his year-end address to rally support for his troops and to assure his nation of victory.
In Ukraine itself, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Dec. 31 address was defiant but also optimistic about the frenetic shuttle diplomacy being brokered by the United States.
Zelenskyy said that Russia, whose officials are also in talks with the Americans, remains the central barrier to peace, with Putin unyielding in his maximalist demands.
“I would give anything in the world if, in this address, I could say that peace will also come in just a few minutes,” Zelenskyy said just before the clock struck midnight. “Unfortunately, I cannot say that yet. But with a clear conscience, I — all of us — can say that Ukraine is truly doing everything for peace.”
The Ukrainian leader recently returned from a meeting with President Donald Trump in Florida on Sunday. Afterward, Zelenskyy said Trump had offered 15 years of the crucial “security guarantees” that he says are essential to stop Putin from attacking again. Ukraine had asked for 50 years, he said.
Hours before the new year’s bells chimed, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff posted on X that he had held a call with Zelenskyy, Ukrainian national security secretary Rustem Umerov and the national security advisers of Britain, France and Germany.
In his own post on X, Umerov said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were also on the call.
Though Zelenskyy said that the “peace agreement is 90% ready,” he suggested that the remaining 10% contained the thorniest issues preventing peace.
“Those are the 10% that will determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe, how people will live,” he said. “Ten percent to save millions of lives. Ten percent of the determination needed for peace to work 100%. Ten percent of the unity and wisdom so desperately needed — Ukrainian, American, European, from the entire world. Ten percent to peace.”
Aftermath of a Russian drone attack in Volyn region
Firefighters battle a blaze in Ukraine’s northwestern Volyn region.State Emergency Service of Ukraine via Reuters
The Ukrainian leader charted what has been a roller-coaster year trying to retain the goodwill of Trump, a pivotal and changeable figure in the peace process. Zelenskyy said “it was not easy at all to achieve such a change in the tone of relations between Ukraine and the United States” after he clashed with Trump and Vice President JD Vance in an extraordinary White House meeting in February.
Trump has often shifted between appearing to favor Russia and then Ukraine during these negotiations, and has at various points been criticized for freezing Ukraine and Europe out of the process.
“Without Ukraine, nothing will work. Ukraine has defended its right to have a voice,” Zelenskyy said, adding later: “Ukraine is, in fact, the only shield that now separates Europe’s comfortable way of life from the Russian world.”
Russia claimed this week that Ukraine had attempted to assassinate Putin with a drone strike on his country residence, something that Ukraine denied and the CIA concluded was not true, a source with knowledge of the matter told NBC News.
In his own New Year’s address, Putin said his country was striving “to bring joy and warmth” to those in need, as well as the “heroes” fighting in Ukraine. “I wish all our soldiers and commanders a happy new year! We believe in you and in our victory,” he said.
