{"id":195332,"date":"2026-01-01T17:04:42","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T17:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/russia-rings-in-new-year-with-mass-drone-strike-on-ukraine-putin-says-hes-confident-of-victory-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T17:04:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T17:04:42","slug":"russia-rings-in-new-year-with-mass-drone-strike-on-ukraine-putin-says-hes-confident-of-victory-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/russia-rings-in-new-year-with-mass-drone-strike-on-ukraine-putin-says-hes-confident-of-victory-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia rings in new year with mass drone strike on Ukraine, Putin says he's confident of victory – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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KYIV, Ukraine \u2014 Russia<\/a> rang in the new year by launching more than 200 drones at Ukraine<\/a>, while President Vladimir Putin<\/a> used his year-end address to rally support for his troops and to assure his nation of victory.
In Ukraine itself, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy\u2019s<\/a> Dec. 31 address was defiant but also optimistic about the frenetic shuttle diplomacy being brokered by the United States<\/a>.
Zelenskyy said that Russia, w<\/a>hose officials are also in talks with the Americans<\/a>, remains the central barrier to peace, with Putin unyielding in his maximalist demands.
\u201cI would give anything in the world if, in this address, I could say that peace will also come in just a few minutes,\u201d Zelenskyy said just before the clock struck midnight. \u201cUnfortunately, I cannot say that yet. But with a clear conscience, I \u2014 all of us \u2014 can say that Ukraine is truly doing everything for peace.\u201d
The Ukrainian leader recently returned from a meeting with President Donald Trump<\/a> in Florida on Sunday. Afterward, Zelenskyy said Trump had offered 15 years of the crucial \u201csecurity guarantees\u201d<\/a> that he says are essential to stop Putin from attacking again. Ukraine had asked for 50 years, he said.
Hours before the new year\u2019s bells chimed, Trump\u2019s special envoy Steve Witkoff posted on X<\/a> that he had held a call with Zelenskyy, Ukrainian national security secretary Rustem Umerov and the national security advisers of Britain, France and Germany.
In his own post on X, Umerov said<\/a> Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner were also on the call.
Though Zelenskyy said that the \u201cpeace agreement is 90% ready,\u201d he suggested that the remaining 10% contained the thorniest issues preventing peace.
\u201cThose are the 10% that will determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe, how people will live,\u201d he said. \u201cTen percent to save millions of lives. Ten percent of the determination needed for peace to work 100%. Ten percent of the unity and wisdom so desperately needed \u2014 Ukrainian, American, European, from the entire world. Ten percent to peace.\u201d
The Ukrainian leader charted what has been a roller-coaster year trying to retain the goodwill of Trump, a pivotal and changeable figure in the peace process. Zelenskyy said \u201cit was not easy at all to achieve such a change in the tone of relations between Ukraine and the United States\u201d after he clashed with Trump and Vice President JD Vance in an extraordinary White House meeting<\/a> in February.
Trump has often shifted between appearing to favor Russia and then Ukraine during these negotiations<\/a>, and has at various points been criticized for freezing Ukraine and Europe out of the process.
\u201cWithout Ukraine, nothing will work. Ukraine has defended its right to have a voice,\u201d Zelenskyy said, adding later: \u201cUkraine is, in fact, the only shield that now separates Europe\u2019s comfortable way of life from the Russian world.\u201d
Hours after Zelenskyy spoke, Russia launched 205 drones \u2014 mostly Iran-designed Shaheds along with some Russian Gerbera drones \u2014 into Ukraine, according to the country\u2019s military. Air defense systems downed 176 of these, but 24 strikes were recorded at 15 locations, it said. There was also shelling right along the line of contact between Russia and Ukraine.
At least two people were killed and more than a dozen injured across the country, according to regional officials.
For its part, Ukraine launched a strike against Russia\u2019s Rosrezerv oil depot in the Yaroslavl region, the Security Service of Ukraine, the SBU, said in a statement. The SBU said this was the latest strike designed to \u201ccut off the supply chains of Russian petroleum products with surgical precision, both abroad and for the troops attacking Ukraine.\u201d
Russia claimed this week that Ukraine had attempted to assassinate Putin<\/a> with a drone strike on his country residence, something that Ukraine denied and the CIA concluded was not true, a source with knowledge of the matter told NBC News.
In his own New Year\u2019s address, Putin said his country was striving \u201cto bring joy and warmth\u201d to those in need, as well as the \u201cheroes\u201d fighting in Ukraine. \u201cI wish all our soldiers and commanders a happy new year! We believe in you and in our victory,\u201d he said.
Daryna Mayer reported from Kyiv and Alexander Smith from London.<\/em>
Daryna Mayer is an NBC News producer and reporter based in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Alexander Smith is a senior reporter for\u00a0NBC News Digital based in London.
© 2025 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeKYIV, Ukraine \u2014 Russia rang in the new year by launching more than 200 drones at Ukraine, while President Vladimir Putin used his year-end address to rally support for his troops and to assure his nation of victory.In Ukraine itself, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy\u2019s Dec. 31 address was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":195333,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-195332","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}