Putin urges Russians to "support our heroes" fighting in Ukraine.
"We believe in you and in our victory," he says in the speech and wishes all soldiers in Ukraine a happy new year.
The speech was first broadcast in Kamchatka, in Russia's far east, in the country's first time zone to enter 2026. In the following hours, the speech will also be broadcast in the country's other ten time zones further west.
New Year's Eve marks 26 years since Vladimir Putin took power in Russia after Boris Yeltsin's resignation in 1999.
