President: Coming months will be difficult, but Ukraine has plan
President Volodymyr Zelensky predicts that in the coming months, Ukraine will have "a hard time".
President Volodymyr Zelensky said this at a press conference following the forum "Ukraine. Year 2024" forum, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
"It will be difficult for us in the coming months, because there is a fluctuation in the United States that has an impact on some states... In March-April, we will go through a period of different waves: political, financial, and different pressures. Russia will be preparing counteroffensives in early summer or late May. If they can... They will be preparing. We will prepare for their battle," Zelensky said.
The President emphasized that Ukraine, for its part, would prepare a plan "and follow it."
"The US elections will be a turning point, and we will understand what will happen after that. I believe that we will be able to hold the first summit [of peace], at least we will do everything to prepare the first document for the world that can lead to the end of the war, which should end in a just peace for all of us, for Ukraine," Zelensky said.
According to him, the situation at the end of the year will depend on many factors.
"If now or in the coming months Ukraine could get 10 Patriot systems for key industrial centers, if we could use these systems closer to the front line, they [the invaders] would not approach us, they would retreat. We would have broken their lines of defense and moved forward. 10 Patriot would have radically changed the situation," the President is convinced.
At the same time, he added that this does not mean that Patriot systems solve everything.
"Two or three such names [of weapons] will be enough to defend them. And then you can answer the question: why doesn't Ukraine have it? It means that not everyone needs it. It means that not everything is possible. Or it means that everything is ahead, and it depends on this what the end of this year will be like," Zelensky said.
As reported, earlier the President noted that the Patriot air defense system costs USD 1.5 billion. "It is impossible to buy it simply, there are no corresponding systems in the world, and the available analogues are also in small quantities.