Putin says has ‘no doubt’ Russia will win in Ukraine

President Vladimir Putin

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

Victory is “guaranteed, I have no doubt about it,” Putin told workers at a factory in Russia’s second city Saint Petersburg, saying “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.

Separately Ukraine’s interior minister was among more than a dozen people killed in a helicopter crash Wednesday near a kindergarten outside Kyiv, spurring condolences from allies.

Officials initially said that 18 people had died but later revised the toll down to 16, including one of the minister’s deputies and three children.