“No-one has the answer” for whether or not the war in Ukraine will end next year, conceded Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, at his end of year press conference in Kyiv today. 

“What I do know is, there are many more of us, millions like me, who are not ready to give up. We are not ready to let go of our country,” he told reporters.

A year ago, Zelensky delivered this annual address as Kyiv’s forces celebrated stunning gains in the country’s east and south. This time, as Russia’s full-scale invasion grinds closer to the two-year anniversary, the Ukrainian leader was speaking against a decidedly bleaker backdrop.Â