Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had “no doubt” Moscow would emerge victorious in Ukraine, despite the military setbacks in the nearly year-long offensive.

He defended his goals in Ukraine, where he had initially sent troops to “de-Nazify” the country

Putin sent in troops to Ukraine in a pre-dawn attack last February, and announced a military mobilisation to prop up Russian forces in the pro-Western country in September.

Despite several military defeats, victory was “guaranteed, I have no doubt about it”, Vladimir Putin said today. He was addressing workers at a factory in Russia’s Saint Petersburg, his native place.

“The unity and solidarity of the Russian people, the courage and heroism of our fighters and, of course, the work of the military-industrial sector” will secure victory, he added.

Putin was in Saint Petersburg to mark the 80th anniversary of Soviet forces breaking the siege of Leningrad as the city was known then.

He defended his goals in Ukraine, where he had initially sent troops to “de-Nazify” the country.