Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu used his New Year’s address to demonise Ukraine and to declare that Russian victory is as “inevitable” as the coming of the new year, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its assessment of December 31, 2022.
False claims
Shoigu portrayed Russian soldiers as defending civilians from “genocide and violence,” including over “the right to speak Russian,” and framed the war as a fight against neo-Nazism and terrorism. ISW called the claims false, noting that Russian is an officially recognised minority language in Ukraine, and assessed that the address aimed to motivate Russian troops.
Putin in uniformed company
President Vladimir Putin delivered his own New Year’s Eve address from the headquarters of the Southern Military District in Rostov-on-Don, with uniformed personnel standing behind him. He said Russia’s future “depends only on us, on our strength and determination” and described 2022 as a year of “difficult, necessary decisions.”
ISW assessed that Putin was trying to justify the costs of the war and tie its outcome to Russia’s survival as an independent state, and that he remained unwilling to accept peace on terms other than his own. Putin also presented a St. George award to Gen. Sergei Surovikin, commander of Russian forces in Ukraine.
Ammunition shortages
ISW also cited Ukrainian intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov, who said Russian artillery fire had fallen from about 60,000 shells a day to 19,000-20,000, which ISW said would constrain Russian operations, including around Bakhmut.
Sources
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