President Volodymyr Zelensky in his New Year address early on Monday said Ukraine had become stronger in overcoming serious difficulties as the war against Russia moves toward its second year.
But Zelensky’s slick 20-minute video message, delivered from his Kyiv office, made almost no direct reference to the situation on the 1,000-km (600-mile) front line or the limited success of a counteroffensive launched in June.
Nor did he refer to the political and diplomatic difficulties in securing continued military and other aid from both the US Congress and the European Union.
Zelensky said the war had taught Ukrainians to withstand Russian attacks and adapt to hardships, including blackouts, the operation of industry and threats to shipping its exports.
“The major result of the year, its main achievement: Ukraine has become stronger. Ukrainians have become stronger,” Zelensky said in the address, interspersed with footage of cities under attack and meetings with leaders of Ukraine’s Western allies.
“When, at the beginning of 2023 ... we surmounted, without exaggeration, the most difficult winter in history. When we proved that Ukrainians are tougher than cold and darkness. Stronger than power outages and blackout threats.
“Ukrainians are stronger than any blockades and vetoes, disbelief or skepticism,” he said.
Zelensky pointed to Ukrainian successes in containing and attacking Russia’s navy in the Black Sea, confirmed “by their large landing ships, missile-armed and patrol corvettes on the bottom of the sea.”
Ukrainians were “stronger than any intrigues,” he said, in putting together groups of Western countries for improving Ukrainian air defenses and pledging to supply F-16 fighter aircraft.
“We will definitely see them in our skies,” he said of the F-16s, while repeating a promise to boost domestic weapons production and produce at least 1 million drones in the next year.
And in a reference to questions of ensuring that the Ukrainian military had sufficient numbers of troops, he urged those who are “still hesitating to make a bold choice next year, to defend their own country, to work for it, to help it.”
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Zelensky says Ukraine stronger as it moves toward year two of war
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Zelensky says Ukraine stronger as it moves toward year two of war
- Zelensky said the war had taught Ukrainians to withstand Russian attacks and adapt to hardships, including blackouts, the operation of industry and threats to shipping its exports
Life jail terms for duo who plotted attack on UK Jews
- Walid Saadaoui and Amar Hussein intended to target an antisemitism march in Manchester
- Paor were inspired by the ringleader of the November 2015 Paris attacks in which 130 people were massacred
LONDON: A UK court on Friday jailed two men for life for planning a Daesh-inspired gun attack on a Jewish gathering in northern England.
Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, who were arrested in May 2024, intended to target an antisemitism march in Manchester before killing more Jews in the northern English city.
Police thwarted their plans, hatched between December 2023 and May 2024, after they revealed them to an undercover operative posing as a like-minded extremist who could help import weapons.
A judge at Preston Crown Court sentenced Saadaoui, originally from Tunisia, to serve a minimum of 37 years in custody. Hussein, a Kuwaiti, will serve at least 26 years.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed the jail terms in the “horrifying case.”
“I want to thank law enforcement for bringing these vile cowards to justice and reassure our Jewish community that we will never relent in our fight against antisemitism and terror,” the UK leader said on X.
The pair’s trial last year heard that Saadaoui hero-worshipped Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Daesh recruiter and ringleader for the November 2015 Paris attacks in which 130 people were massacred.
A jury convicted Saadaoui and Hussein, who he recruited, of preparing acts of terrorism.
Judge Michael Wall told the defendants that if the plot had succeeded, it would “likely have been one of the deadliest terror attacks ever carried out on British soil.”
Main instigator Saadaoui had aimed to smuggle four AK-47 assault rifles, two handguns and 900 rounds of ammunition into the UK.
He also traveled to north Manchester to carry out surveillance on Jewish nurseries, schools, synagogues and shops.
Authorities began to investigate him after he used 10 Facebook accounts in fake names to post extremist views.
Counter-terrorism police intervened in May 2024 in an operation involving over 200 officers.
Saadaoui was arrested at a hotel car park after he went to collect some firearms, which had been intercepted and deactivated.
Last October, a deadly attack on a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, killed two people and wounded four.
Police shot dead the perpetrator Jihad Al-Shamie, a Syrian-born UK citizen, at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue, the scene of the attack.
Walid Saadaoui, 38, and Amar Hussein, 52, who were arrested in May 2024, intended to target an antisemitism march in Manchester before killing more Jews in the northern English city.
Police thwarted their plans, hatched between December 2023 and May 2024, after they revealed them to an undercover operative posing as a like-minded extremist who could help import weapons.
A judge at Preston Crown Court sentenced Saadaoui, originally from Tunisia, to serve a minimum of 37 years in custody. Hussein, a Kuwaiti, will serve at least 26 years.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed the jail terms in the “horrifying case.”
“I want to thank law enforcement for bringing these vile cowards to justice and reassure our Jewish community that we will never relent in our fight against antisemitism and terror,” the UK leader said on X.
The pair’s trial last year heard that Saadaoui hero-worshipped Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a Daesh recruiter and ringleader for the November 2015 Paris attacks in which 130 people were massacred.
A jury convicted Saadaoui and Hussein, who he recruited, of preparing acts of terrorism.
Judge Michael Wall told the defendants that if the plot had succeeded, it would “likely have been one of the deadliest terror attacks ever carried out on British soil.”
Main instigator Saadaoui had aimed to smuggle four AK-47 assault rifles, two handguns and 900 rounds of ammunition into the UK.
He also traveled to north Manchester to carry out surveillance on Jewish nurseries, schools, synagogues and shops.
Authorities began to investigate him after he used 10 Facebook accounts in fake names to post extremist views.
Counter-terrorism police intervened in May 2024 in an operation involving over 200 officers.
Saadaoui was arrested at a hotel car park after he went to collect some firearms, which had been intercepted and deactivated.
Last October, a deadly attack on a Manchester synagogue on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, killed two people and wounded four.
Police shot dead the perpetrator Jihad Al-Shamie, a Syrian-born UK citizen, at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue, the scene of the attack.
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