Victory "is guaranteed, I have no doubt about it," declared Vladimir Putin, during a trip to an arms factory in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday 18 January.
The Russian president thus reaffirms his confidence in the military field, almost a year after his initiation and despite several major military setbacks.
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The master of the Kremlin reiterated that, in his view, Russia was confronting a “neo-Nazi regime” in Ukraine and affirmed that it would continue to “help” the inhabitants of the Ukrainian separatist east.
“We cannot fail to protect them”, he insisted, “Victory will be ours”.
