Zelensky also wants to fight at the “negotiation table”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared on Tuesday evening December 31 that Ukraine should fight in 2025 on the “battlefield” but also to the “negotiation table” to put an end to nearly three years of Russian invasion and a year 2024 marked by major Russian advances.

“Every day of the coming year, we will have to fight for a strong enough Ukraine. Because only such Ukraine will be respected and heard. Both on the battlefield and at the negotiating table”he declared in his New Year's address to the Nation.

The year 2024 will have been difficult for kyiv: the Russian army has advanced in Ukraine by nearly 4,000 km2 in 2024 facing Ukrainians in difficulty, or seven times more than in 2023, and the year to come is shaping up. uncertain for kyiv, particularly due to questions about the sustainability of American support.

For weeks, speculation has been rife about possible future peace talks, after nearly three years of a war that has left hundreds of thousands dead and injured on both sides.

The Ukrainian president said he wanted “a just peace” in 2025, but his country ends the year on the defensive, facing a Russian army which is advancing despite significant losses.

“Let 2025 be our year. The year of Ukraine. 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.”he added in his speech broadcast on social networks.

The consequences for Ukrainians remain immense: millions of displaced people and refugees, and incessant Russian bombings, particularly those targeting energy infrastructure, regularly plunging civilians into darkness and cold.

Ukrainians retreat

For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the progress of his troops in mid-December, ensuring that he had « l’initiative » at the end of a year « charnière ».

In his New Year's speech on Tuesday, Vladimir Putin did not explicitly mention the war in Ukraine but praised Russian soldiers for their “courage and their bravery”.

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In detail, its men have advanced 3,985 km2 in 2024, according to AFP's analysis of data provided by the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), as of December 30. That is almost seven times more than in 2023 (584 km2).

Less numerous and less armed, the Ukrainian forces have been retreating at an accelerated pace since this fall, particularly in the East: November (725 km2) and October (610 km2) were the two months during which the Russian army took the lead. no more territory since March 2022 and the first weeks of the invasion.

Obtaining a “just peace”

In this context, many unanswered questions remain.

The coming year “will determine who wins”warned the Ukrainian president in November, hoping to obtain a “just peace” in 2025.

In kyiv, his wish is shared by the population: “I want peace to finally be achieved for Ukraine, for people to stop dying”Kateryna Tchemeryz, a teacher, told AFP.

“Everyone has only one wish, one dream: that Ukraine wins and that all our territories are reconquered”insists Tetiana, a civil servant who did not wish to give her last name.

And this, while Russia already occupies nearly 20% of Ukrainian territory and the return to power in the United States on January 20 of the unpredictable Donald Trump further increases uncertainty.

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“I feel some anxiety”recognizes Kateryna Tchemeryz, the American president-elect who called for a ceasefire ” immediate “ and promised to obtain a peace agreement, without ever detailing his plan.

However, the United States is Ukraine's largest donor and arms supplier, and a reduction in this aid could have immense consequences.

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“I have no doubt that the new American president is willing and able to achieve peace and end Putin's aggression”declared Tuesday evening Zelensky, who always demands security guarantees for his country before any negotiations with Moscow.

On his sleeve, he benefits from the fact that his army has occupied several hundred square kilometers of the Russian region of Kursk since August, a thorn in the side of Vladimir Putin.

But the latter now has the support of thousands of North Korean soldiers. It has also increased the threats of world war, if the West strengthens its support for Ukraine, with more longer-range missiles.

Cross strikes

The master of the Kremlin still demands the surrender of Ukraine, its renunciation of membership in NATO and the Ukrainian territories that it has annexed.

During the night from Monday to Tuesday, Ukraine was again targeted by 21 missiles and around forty attack drones, of which seven and 16 respectively were able to be shot down. The Russian army claimed to have struck “a military airfield and an enterprise of the military-industrial complex” Ukrainian.

On the Russian side, a Ukrainian drone attack caused a fuel fire in an oil depot in the Smolensk region, 500 km as the crow flies from kyiv, according to the regional governor.