Zelensky says Russia preparing for new ‘year of war’

KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday Russia was preparing to wage a new “year of war” on his country in 2026, after his counterpart Vladimir Putin said Moscow would “certainly” achieve its objectives.

“Today, we heard yet another signal from Moscow that they are preparing to make next year a year of war,” Zelensky said in his regular evening address.

The statement was a reaction to Putin, who earlier said Russia would achieve its goals in its Ukraine offensive, including seizing Ukrainian territories it claims as its own, amid a flurry of international diplomacy to end the war.

“The goals of the special military operation will certainly be achieved,” Putin told a meeting with defence ministry officials in Moscow, using the Kremlin’s wording for the nearly four-year war.

“We would prefer to do this and eliminate the root causes of the conflict through diplomacy,” he said, vowing to seize the Ukrainian lands Russia claims to have annexed “by military means” if “the opposing country and its foreign patrons refuse to engage in substantive discussions.”

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Putin’s hawkish comments come as Ukraine on Monday hailed “progress” made on the question of future security guarantees for Kyiv, after two days of talks with US President Donald Trump’s envoys in Berlin.

But according to Zelensky, differences remain on the question of what territories Ukraine would have to cede to Russia.

Washington’s initial proposal – criticised by Ukraine and its allies as overly favourable to Russia – would have seen Kyiv withdraw from its eastern Donetsk region and the United States de facto recognise the Donetsk, Crimea and Lugansk regions as Russian.

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The current contents of the revised plan remain unclear.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Kremlin said Russia was waiting for information from the US on the outcome of the talks in Berlin.

“We expect that, as soon as they are ready, our American counterparts will inform us of the results of their work with the Ukrainians and the Europeans,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

In September 2022, Russia claimed to have officially annexed the Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Lugansk and Kherson regions, even though it did not have full military control over all of them.

Zelensky is expected to attend a summit in Brussels on Thursday to lobby European Union leaders to adopt a plan to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine’s defences.

He said in his evening address that Putin’s bellicose signals “are not only for us”.

“It is important that our partners see this, and important that they not only see it but also respond, including our partners in the United States of America, who often say that Russia supposedly wants to end the war,” he said, accusing Moscow of trying to “undermine diplomacy”.