Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged "victory" in Ukraine on Thursday as he staged an upbeat press conference a week after announcing plans to stay in the Kremlin until at least 2030.
Bolstered by Kyiv's battlefield struggles and war fatigue in the West, the 71-year-old looked relaxed as he brushed off nearly two years of international sanctions and reaffirmed his maximalist goals in Ukraine.
"I am sure that victory will be ours," Putin said during his first end-of-year media appearance since Russia shocked the world by sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian forces were "improving their position on almost the entire line of contact" in Ukraine, Putin said.
His four-hour appearance came at one of the lowest points for Kyiv in the conflict, which has claimed tens of thousands of lives and erased entire cities across Ukraine's south and east.
Ukraine's summer counteroffensive petered out without making much progress and its Western support is fraying amid political wrangling in Washington and frictions within the European Union.
Putin appeared to point to these, stressing that nearly two years of Western sanctions and international isolation had done little to hurt Russia's economy or morale.
"There is enough for us not only to feel confident, but to move forward," Putin said.
The echoes of Russia's military operation reverberated in the grand Moscow hall where hundreds of journalists passed four police checkpoints to hear Putin speak.
Russia said it had downed nine Ukrainian drones heading for Moscow just hours before Putin's event was set to kick off.
In Kyiv, AFP reporters heard air raid sirens and explosions going off in the Ukrainian capital as Putin's event drew to a close.
On Thursday, Ukraine said had shot down all but one of the 42 Russian drones targeting Odesa, in a barrage that wounded 11 people.
Putin's choreographed call-in show was cancelled last year as Moscow reeled from military failures, with Ukraine managing to repel the Kremlin's initial assault on Kyiv and then regaining territory in the east and south.
Ukraine's strong resistance and support from its allies had surprised observers around the world and in Moscow, where many had expected to take Kyiv in a few days.