ATTILA KISBENEDEK / AFP
Volodymyr Zelensky declared on Tuesday December 31 that kyiv should beat Russia in 2025 on the “battlefield” but also at the “negotiation table”. (Illustrative photo)
UKRAINE – Hopes for peace after three years of conflict? In his wishes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared on Tuesday evening December 31 that kyiv should beat Russia in 2025 on the “battlefield” but also to the “negotiation table” to end the war raging in his country.
“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. »he added in his New Year address to the Nation.
Russian advance in Ukraine 7 times greater in 2024 than in 2023
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. “ May 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 year 2024 will have in fact 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.
The consequences for Ukrainians are immense: millions of displaced people and refugees, and incessant Russian bombings, particularly those targeting energy infrastructure, regularly plunging civilians into darkness and cold.
In his New Year's speech on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not explicitly mention the war in Ukraine but praised Russian soldiers for their “courage and their bravery”.
The uncertainty linked to Trump's return
The coming year “will determine who wins”the Ukrainian president warned again in November. 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.
“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.
“I have no doubt that the new American president is willing and able to achieve peace and end Putin's aggression”Zelensky said in his speech.
Before Trump took office, the administration of outgoing US President Joe Biden on Monday unveiled nearly six billion dollars in military and budgetary aid to Ukraine.
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.
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