Ukrainian leader believes Donald Trump will bring peace in 2025
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has kicked off the New Year on an upbeat note saying he has “no doubt” Donald Trump will bring imminent peace to Ukraine despite a deadly Russian drone attack in Kyiv.
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Ukraine will see peace in 2025 according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who has faith incoming US leader Donald Trump will be able to reason with “deranged’ Vladimir Putin.
“I have no doubt that the new American president wants and will be able to bring peace and end Putin’s aggression,” Mr Zelenskyy said in his New Year’s address.
“He understands that the former is impossible without the latter. Because this is not a street brawl where the two sides need to be pacified. This is a full-scale aggression by a deranged state against a civilised one.
“And I believe that, together with the United States, we are capable of the strength to force Russia into a just peace.”
Mr Zelenskyy’s comments came shortly before Russia launched an aerial attack on the centre of Kyiv in the first hours of 2025, killing two people and drawing fresh anger from officials towards Moscow.
The attack is a rare strike on the heart of the Ukrainian capital.
“Two people were killed, and seven others wounded in a Russian drone strike on Kyiv,” Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said in a post on social media.
The Prosecutor General’s Office said two pregnant women were among the wounded. Local officials said the damage was caused by falling debris, suggesting the drones had been intercepted.
AFP journalists in the city heard multiple powerful explosions early on Wednesday morning.
Ukrainian officials said the Russian drones targeted the capital’s Pechersky district, home to the presidential palace and government quarter.
Apartment blocks were hit and Ukraine’s central bank said one of its buildings in the city centre was damaged in the attack.
Putin has repeatedly threatened to strike at the heart of Kyiv in recent weeks – an attack he said would be a response to Ukraine firing US-supplied weapons on Russian territory.
Mr Zelenskyy blasted the Russian drone attack.
“Even on New Year’s night, Russia only cares about hurting Ukraine,” he said in a post on Telegram.
A total of 111 Russian drones were fired at Ukraine overnight, with 109 either shot down or disabled by Ukraine’s air defence systems, the Ukrainian air force said.
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UKRAINIAN SEA DRONE TAKES DOWN RUSSIAN CHOPPER
Ukrainian forces have destroyed a Russian helicopter with a missile fired from a sea drone, marking the first time a weapon like this has been used.
Ukraine’s defence ministry posted footage on X that appeared to show a Russian Mi-8 helicopter firing at the Magura V5 sea drone before the autonomous vessel shot an R-73 Sea Dragon missile at the chopper.
The video shows the helicopter crashing into the Black Sea.
“A Russian Mi-8 helicopter was destroyed using R-73 [Sea Dragon] missiles near Cape Tarkhankut in temporarily occupied Crimea,” the post on X said.
It comes after Ukraine confirmed Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles across Kyiv, conceding that there were successful strikes in the east of the country and near the capital.
Authorities did not elaborate on what had been hit but in the wider Kyiv region, the governor said debris from a downed projectile had damaged a private home and wounded a woman.
Moscow said its forces had used attack drones and precision weapons in a “combined” assault on a military airfield and a munitions production facility, claiming that the targets were struck.
The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 21 missiles of various types and 40 drones in the barrage, adding that seven missiles and 16 unmanned aerial vehicles were downed.
“As a result of the Russian attack, there were ballistic missile hits in Sumy and Kyiv regions,” the air force said.
Russia has launched aerial attacks on Ukraine at night almost every day since its forces invaded in February 2022, targeting military and civilian infrastructure, too, like energy facilities.
Ukraine has stepped up its own drone and missile attacks inside Russian territory in response, and urged its Western allies to supply more air defence systems.
A Ukrainian drone attack in western Russia caused a fuel spill and fire at an oil depot, a Russian regional governor said earlier Tuesday.
Vasily Anokhin, the governor of Smolensk region – which borders Ukraine – said that Russian air defence systems had “suppressed an attack by Ukrainian” drones in Yartsevo district.
“The wreckage of one of the unmanned aerial vehicles fell on the territory of an oil depot. As a result, a fuel spill occurred and a fire started in the fuel and lubricants,” Anokhin wrote on social media early Tuesday.
He added that rescue services were still at work, and that there was “no threat” to residential buildings around the area.
Russia’s defence ministry reported Tuesday that 68 Ukrainian UAVs were downed overnight, with 10 destroyed over Smolensk region.
Kyiv has struck several Russian energy facilities throughout the nearly three-year conflict, claiming the hits were fair retaliation for Moscow’s large-scale attacks on its own electricity grid.
Russia’s border regions are frequently targeted by Ukrainian aerial attacks, and both sides have escalated their bombardments over the last few months.
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