Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu mentioned victory for Russia over Ukraine was “inevitable” as he hailed Russian troopers’ heroism in a New Year’s video message.

Moscow’s defence chief, who has been closely criticised by pro-war voices in Russia for battlefield failures through the 10-month marketing campaign, mentioned the scenario on the frontlines remained “difficult” and lambasted Ukraine and the West for attempting to include Russia.

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“We meet the New Year in a difficult military-political situation,” Shoigu mentioned. “At a time when there are those who are trying to erase our glorious history and great achievements, demolish monuments to the victors over fascism, put war criminals on a pedestal, cancel and desecrate everything Russian.”

With bloody preventing ongoing throughout the 1,000-km (600-mile) frontline, and Russia not having secured any territorial beneficial properties because the first months of the warfare, Shoigu informed Russian troopers: “Victory, like the New Year, is inevitable.”

Shoigu additionally praised the “immortal actions, selfless courage and heroism” proven by Russian troops preventing what he referred to as “neo-Nazism and terrorism”.

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Kyiv and the West have rejected Russia’s assertion it’s preventing “Nazis” in Ukraine as a baseless pretext for President Vladimir Putin’s try and seize territory and topple Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a warfare of unprovoked aggression.

Moscow had anticipated swift victory in what it calls a “special military operation”, however Ukraine’s spirited resistance and billions of {dollars} of Western arms have helped Kyiv flip the tide of the warfare and mount a collection of beautiful counteroffensives. Ukraine has now reclaimed greater than half of the territory seized by Russia through the first weeks of its invasion.