Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he had “no doubt” Moscow would emerge victorious in Ukraine, despite military setbacks in the nearly year-long offensive, reported Al Jazeera. Speaking during a visit to a factory in St Petersburg that makes air defence systems, Putin said he had “no doubt” Russia would emerge victorious in the conflict – despite suffering a string of military setbacks in its now 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. The statement comes as Ukraine grapples with the loss of its interior minister in a deadly helicopter crash.Z Ukraine’s interior minister Denys Monastyrskyy is among at least 14 people killed after a helicopter crashed in a Kyiv suburb Wednesday, officials said. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the crash a “tragedy” and authorities have launched an investigation, reported CNN. One child was among the dead and 25 others were wounded in Wednesday’s incident in the town of Brovary, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said.