Russia launched more than 200 drones at Ukraine as new year struck, while Putin and Zelenskyy offered messages to their nations.

After a year of Russian advances, the goal for 2026 is simply to survive, said one officer in eastern Ukraine. “It’s hard to make any plans,” he said.

Russia has accused Ukraine of killing at least 27 people in a drone strike on a New Year's party in a hotel and cafe in the Russian-occupied southern Kherson region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prayed that peace would no longer elude his nation in the New Year — which Russia commemorated by firing more than 200 drones.

A Russian drone attack damaged power infrastructure in several Ukrainian regions overnight, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday, while Moscow accused Ukraine of carrying out a deadly new year attack in a Russian-controlled part of Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's defiant New Year's message contrasts sharply with President Donald Trump's diplomatic push as Ukraine-Russia war approaches fourth year.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his country believes it will win the war in Ukraine, nearly four years after he launched an invasion of the neighbouring nation, in comments made during his televised annual New Year’s Eve address.

The Kremlin leader kept his speech short, spoke only briefly about the fighting in Ukraine, and did not mention U.S.-mediated talks on ending the war.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told his country that a peace deal is "90 percent" complete, but he warned that the remaining 10 percent will be difficult and will decide "the fate of peace, Ukraine, and Europe.

Russia on Thursday said Kyiv was behind a drone strike on a hotel in the Moscow-held part of Ukraine's southern Kherson region that killed at least 20 people celebrating the New Year, accusing it

His speech came as Russia released video of what it said was a downed drone after it claimed Ukraine tried to attack a presidential residence

Russian officials claim a Ukrainian drone strike killed 24 people in a Russian-occupied village in Ukraine's Kherson region, while President Zelenskyy announced a peace deal is 90 per cent complete.