Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he had “no doubt” Moscow would emerge victorious in Ukraine, despite military setbacks in the nearly year-long offensive.
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Putin sent troops to Ukraine in February last year and in September announced a military mobilization to shore up Moscow’s forces in the pro-Western country.
Despite a series of military defeats, victory was “guaranteed, I have no doubt about that,” Putin told workers at a factory in Russia’s second city, St Petersburg.
“The unity and solidarity of the Russian people, the courage and heroism of our fighters and, of course, the work of the military-industrial sector” will ensure victory, he added.
Putin also praised the Russian defense industry when speaking at the plant, which is part of the Russian missile maker Almaz-Antey.
“We have something to rely on and this cannot but inspire victory to be ours,” he said.
Putin was visiting his native St. Petersburg to mark the 80th anniversary of Soviet forces breaking the siege of Leningrad, as the city was known at the time.
His comments came a week after he replaced Russia’s top commander in Ukraine, a move that followed a series of battlefield defeats in Ukraine last year.
There is some concern in Russia about how long Moscow’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine has lasted, as the anniversary of the offensive approaches.
Putin once again defended his goals in Ukraine, where he initially sent troops to “denazify” the pro-Western country.
“We are absolutely justified in saying that we are fighting against neo-Nazism,” he said.
