Russian invasion|Zelenskyi admits in an interview with the news agency AFP that the morale of the Ukrainian troops needs strengthening. He also says that Ukraine would need about 120 modern fighter jets.
Russian the ground operation started last week in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region may only be the first step of a new attack, says the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi in an interview given to the news agency AFP.
According to the president, the attack could consist of several waves and the Russian troops could aim for the city of Kharkiv. According to him, however, the Russian troops understand that an attack on Kharkiv would be very difficult.
Russia has said that it has captured several border villages in the Kharkiv region. According to Zelensky, the situation in the region is under control, but not stable, after sending additional Ukrainian troops.
According to Zelenskyi, on the other hand, the armed forces of Ukraine also need more people in order to strengthen the morale of the troops. According to AFP, the concession is rare for Zelenskyi.
Many Ukrainian soldiers have been fighting for more than two years without a proper break.
Read more: If Kharkiv is destroyed, pressure to send Western ground troops to Ukraine will increase, ex-NATO ambassador says
Ukraine cannot accept hopes for a ceasefire at the time of the Paris Olympics, Zelenskyi states in a wide-ranging interview with AFP. He repeated his earlier position now in even more detail.
Zelenskyi says that he explained the matter to the French president For Emmanuel Macron because that of Russia to Vladimir Putin cannot be trusted and Putin would not withdraw his troops from the land belonging to Ukraine. At the time of the armistice, Putin could, on the contrary, place additional troops in the occupied territories in peace.
Russia has been hostile to the truce for similar reasons. However, Putin, returning from China, said that the Chinese leadership expressed a similar wish for a truce.
For more than a week, Russia has been advancing in the Kharkiv region and has at least temporarily captured more than ten border villages. Zelenskyi admits that the attacker advanced 5-10 kilometers from the border, but says that the situation has now stabilized. According to him, taking over the big city of Kharkiv would be difficult for the Russians.
Putin said earlier on Friday during his visit to China that the occupation of Kharkiv is not in the plans, at least in the near future.
The idea that Russia could get close to the capital Kyiv, as in the first weeks of the major attack in February-March 2022, seems even more distant, Zelenskyi states.
Residents of Vovchansk, located on the Ukrainian border, have been evacuated from under the Russian attack. The photo was taken on Friday in the Kharkiv area.
Presidential according to Ukraine’s air defense capacity is only a quarter of what would be needed. Likewise, the air force should be supplemented with more than 120 modern planes in order to take away the possibility of air supremacy from Russia.
He reminded that the West would not want Ukraine to use its weapon aid for attacks on Russian soil, but Russia has no restrictions when it strikes with its weapons on Ukrainian soil.
Zelenskyi reiterated his hope that China will participate in the international peace conference in Switzerland in mid-June. According to him, China would not want Russia’s defeat to be seen as a US victory.
The West, on the other hand, fears the defeat of Russia and Ukraine at the same time, Zelenskyi estimates. According to him, the solution is a fair peace deal.
Ukraine has previously reminded that its conditions include Russia’s withdrawal from all occupied territories, compensation for the damage caused by the major attack, and bringing suspected war criminals to justice.
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