Russian President Vladimir Putin stated Wednesday he had “little doubt” Moscow would emerge victorious in Ukraine, despite military setbacks in the nearly year-long offensive.

Putin sent troops to Ukraine in February last year, and in September announced a military mobilisation to prop up Moscow’s forces in the pro-Western country.

Despite a number of military defeats, victory was “guaranteed, I have no doubt about it,” Putin informed staff at a manufacturing unit in Russia’s second metropolis Saint Petersburg.

“The unity and solidarity of the Russian individuals, the braveness and heroism of our fighters and, in fact, the work of the military-industrial sector” will secure victory, he added.

Putin also praised the Russian defence industry as he spoke at the plant, which is part of Russian missile manufacturer Almaz-Antey.

“We have something to rely upon and this cannot but inspire that victory will be ours,” he stated.

Putin was visiting his native Saint Petersburg to mark the 80th anniversary of Soviet forces breaking the siege of Leningrad as the town was identified on the time.

His feedback got here every week after he changed Russia’s prime commander in Ukraine, a transfer that adopted a string of defeats on the battlefield in Ukraine final yr.

There is a few concern in Russia over how lengthy Moscow’s so-called “particular navy operation” in Ukraine has gone on for, with the offensive’s anniversary approaching.

Putin once again defended his goals in Ukraine, where he initially sent troops to “de-Nazify” the pro-Western nation.

“We are completely justified in saying that we’re preventing neo-Nazism,” he stated.

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