KYIV, Ukraine, Dec 19, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr

Zelensky will take questions from journalists on Tuesday at an end-of-year
press conference that comes with his military under pressure on the front and
allies wavering on aid.

Zelensky last week embarked on a tour of Western countries to make the case
for more military and political support for Ukraine as Russia's invasion
grinds closer to its two-year-anniversary in February.

But he failed to convince the US Congress to immediately approve $60 billion
in support while in Brussels, Hungarian leader Viktor Orban blocked some 50
billion euros ($55 billion) in aid earmarked for Kyiv.

Those setbacks on the diplomatic front come in the wake of a disappointing
counteroffensive that Kyiv launched in June using Western-supplied tanks and
weapons stockpiled over months.

Responding to growing weariness over the war, UN human rights chief Volker
Turk said Tuesday the world has become "jaded" by the Ukraine conflict where
war crimes continue to be committed "primarily by the forces of the Russian
Federation".

By contrast, Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed victory and said
during a meeting with defence officials on Thursday that society had rallied
behind the war effort.

Putin, who has announced he will run for re-election in March, lashed out at
the West and claimed it was seeking Moscow's destruction.

"Well, we are not going to give up the goals of the special military
operation, either," he said, using the Kremlin's name for the Russian
invasion of Ukraine.

- Trust in leader dropping -

At a time when recent polling suggests Ukrainians are losing trust in their
leader, Zelensky is due to meet with local and foreign journalists after 1400
GMT Tuesday.

Zelensky, who was facing growing discontent before Russia invaded but became
the global face of Ukraine's resistance, is again feeling political pressure
at home.

Recent polling shows that the number of Ukrainians who trust Zelensky has
dropped to 62 percent compared to 84 percent one year ago, as Kyiv's forces
were celebrating gains in the east and south.

The advances from this year's counteroffensive were much more modest, with
just a few villages in the south and east recaptured after months of fighting
against entrenched Russian forces.

Hours before Zelensky was due to speak, Russia's defence ministry said their
forces had foiled an attempt by Kyiv to attack a facility in the capital
Moscow with a drone.

But a senior Ukrainian military official at the same time conceded fighting
with Russian forces in the eastern Kharkiv region was "complicated" with
Ukrainian forces outgunned and outnumbered.

Despite recent setbacks, society still overwhelmingly backs both Ukraine's
armed forces and its commander, Valery Zaluzhny.

In a move that illustrates growing political divides, Kyiv residents have
been gathering in the city centre to demand more funds to help the military
reclaim territory.

Despite setbacks on the battlefield and concern over Western support for
Kyiv, Zelensky has sought to present the Black Sea as a recent success story.

Ukrainian drones have forced some Russian warships to redeploy following
several successful attacks.

Ukraine also re-opened a maritime corridor for commercial cargo ships using
its Black Sea ports, despite threats from Moscow that vessels using the hubs
could be treated as military targets.