Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy vows his country will do everything in 2025 to stop Russia
‘May 2025 be our year,’ Zelenskyy said in an address to the nation just before the clock struck midnight in Kyiv. What we know on day 1,043
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has vowed that his country would use 2025 to fight for an end to Russia’s nearly three-year-long invasion. The Ukrainian leader’s address caps a difficult year for the war-battered country which has been fending off a better-resourced Russian army for nearly three years. “May 2025 be our year,” Zelenskyy said in an address to the nation just before the clock struck midnight in Kyiv. “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.”
Zelenskyy said that no one would give peace to his country as a gift, but he believed the US would stand alongside Kyiv in its fight. He recalled conversations with outgoing US President Joe Biden, president-elect Donald Trump and “everyone who supports us in the United States”. “I have no doubt that the new American president wants and will be able to bring peace and end (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s aggression,” he said.
Russian gas is not scheduled to flow via Ukraine to Europe on 1 January, data from Ukraine’s gas pipeline operator showed Tuesday, as a key transit deal between Moscow and Kyiv nears its end. Ukraine has been allowing Russia to pipe gas to Europe via its territory under a five-year deal signed in 2019, but Zelenskyy has ruled out extending it amid Russia’s invasion. Data from Ukrainian operator OGTSU showed deliveries via the only entry point for Russian gas into Ukraine dropping to zero as of 1 January 2025.
Russia launched a drone strike on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Wednesday, causing damage in at least two districts, city officials said.
Kyiv’s air force warned of drones approaching the city as an air-raid alert was declared. Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said air-defences were repelling an enemy attack, and that debris had sparked fires in private buildings.
Russia advanced by almost 4,000 square kilometres (1,500 miles) in Ukraine in 2024, seven times more than in 2023, an AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War showed on Tuesday. The data highlights the pressure Ukraine faces as it enters 2025, with Moscow pouring resources into its invasion and uncertainty hanging over future US aid for Kyiv under a Donald Trump presidency. Much of the Russian gains came in the autumn, as they took 610 square kilometres in October and 725 square kilometres in November. Those two months saw the Russians capture the most territory since March 2022, in the early weeks of the conflict. Russia’s advance slowed in December, coming to 465 square kilometres in the first 30 days of the month.
The Ukrainian military said on Tuesday its forces had hit a Russian oil depot in the western Smolensk region, setting fire to tanks storing oil products. Ukraine’s general staff said on the Telegram app that the depot was used for military purposes. It did not specify the weapon used for the strike but said it was carried out in cooperation with drone forces.
Smolensk region governor Vasily Anokhin said that the attack caused a fuel spill and fire. He said 10 Ukrainian drones were shot down by Russian air defences but the wreckage of one of them fell on the oil facility. Ukraine has staged numerous attacks on Russian oil storage facilities and refineries.
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