The leaders of Ukraine and Russia both vowed to push for victory in New Year speeches, but while Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke of gratitude and pain, Vladimir Putin urged duty to Russia, casting the war as a near-existential fight.
Zelenskiy, recalling some of the most dramatic moments and victories of the war, filled his emotional 17-minute video message with footage of Russiaโs attacks on the country and words of pride for Ukrainians withstanding attacks, darkness and cold.
โWe were told: you have no other option but to surrender. We say: we have no other option than to win,โ said Zelenskiy, dressed in his trademark khaki outfit and standing in darkness with the Ukrainian flag fluttering behind.
โWe fight as one team โ the whole country, all our regions. I admire you all.โ
A few minutes after Zelenskiyโs speech โ released just before midnight Kyiv time on New Yearโs Eve โ numerous blasts were heard in the capital and around the country. The attacks followed a barrage of more than 20 cruise missiles fired across Ukraine on Saturday โ and many bombardments earlier.
As the war drags into its 11th month, Moscow was unprepared for the staunch resistance and billions of dollars in Western weapons that have turned the tide in Ukraineโs favour.
Russian troops have been forced out of more than half the territory they took in the first weeks of what Putin calls a โspecial military operationโ to โdenazifyโ and demilitarise Ukraine. Kyiv and Western allies say Putinโs invasion was a land grab.
โFATE OF RUSSIAโ
Putin, breaking with tradition by delivering the New Year message flanked by troops rather than the Kremlinโs walls, talked sternly and combatively about 2022 as the year that โclearly separated courage and heroism from betrayal and cowardice.โ
While trying to rally support among Russians amid embarrassing battlefield setbacks and growing internal criticism of his military strategy, Putin thanked Russian troops, but he also demanded more from them.
โThe main thing is the fate of Russia,โ Putin, dressed in a dark suit and tie, said. โDefence of the fatherland is our sacred duty to our ancestors and descendants. Moral, historical righteousness is on our side.โ
Russia had planned a swift operation, but with the war dragging on it has been forced to put society on more of a war footing: calling up more than 300,000 reservists, retooling an economy hurt by Western sanctions and saying publicly that the conflict may be long.
Reiterating that the West is supposedly intent on โdestroying Russiaโ by using Kyiv, Putin vowed he will never allow that. He signalled once again, that the war, albeit hard, will continue.
โWe have always known, and today we are again convinced that the sovereign, independent, secure future of Russia depends only on us, on our strength and will,โ he said.
ANNEXED
Zelenskiy promised the return of lands Moscow proclaimed it had annexed in September.
โItโs impossible to forget. And itโs impossible to forgive. But itโs possible to win,โ he said.
While listing Ukraineโs successes, Zelenskiy referred to the Crimean Bridge, Moscowโs symbol of the annexation of the peninsula that linked it with Russia and that was torn by an explosion in October.
While Putin immediately blamed Kyiv for orchestrating the powerful blast, Ukraine had not previously claimed responsibility for it โ or any other attacks inside Russia, since Russiaโs Feb. 24 invasion.
โThis year has struck our hearts. Weโve cried out all the tears. Weโve shouted all the prayers,โ Zelenskiy said.
โWe fight and will continue to fight. For the sake of the key word: โvictoryโ.โ
