Ukraine wanted counteroffensive to start much earlier to pre-empt Russian defenses – Zelensky
President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in an exclusive interview with CNN that was broadcast on Wednesday.
The President added that he wished that Western weapons deliveries had allowed it to begin “much earlier.”
Speaking with CNN’s Erin Burnett in Odesa, Zelensky said that in some areas of the country his military cannot “even think of starting” attacks, because it does not have “the relevant weapons.”
“I’m grateful to the US as the leaders of our support,” he told Burnett through a translator, “but I told them as well as the European leaders that we would like to start our counteroffensive earlier, and we need all the weapons and materiel for that. Why? Simply because if we start later, it will go slower,” Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian leader added that difficulties on the battlefield were now leading to a “slowed down” counteroffensive.
“I wanted our counteroffensive to happen much earlier, because everyone understood that if the counteroffensive unfolds later, then a bigger part of our territory will be mined. We give our enemy the time and possibility to place more mines and prepare their defensive lines,” the President said.
In any direction Ukraine chooses to attack, however, time is the enemy, Zelensky told Burnett. “The later we start, the more difficult it will be for us.”
The President called on Western governments to give Kyiv more advanced weaponry – such as the US-made long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems – now rather than later.
“In some directions it will give us an opportunity to start the counteroffensive,” he said. “In some directions we cannot even think of starting it, as we don’t have the relevant weapons. And throwing our people to be killed by Russian long-range weapons would be simply inhumane.”
Zelensky believes that after the failed mutiny in Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin will now be attempting to shore up his power and “consolidate his society.”
He also suggested that the Russian leader had been notably out of public sight since the secretive Kremlin deal that ended Wagner’s chaotic insurrection.
“After all these events, where did Putin go?” Zelensky said. “He rarely comes outside to the street. We see him in his offices, etc., but we never see him out and about.”
He claimed that Ukrainian intelligence indicated that the Kremlin was measuring support for Prigozhin.
“Half of Russia supported Prigozhin. Half of Russia supported Putin,” Zelensky said. “Some of the Russian regions were balancing in the meantime without knowing for sure who to support.”
According to the President, the constant threats on his life don’t bother him.
“You can put yourself in a cage like an animal and chain yourself there, constantly thinking that you are just about to get killed. Of course, my bodyguards should think how to prevent this from happening, and this is their task. I don’t think about it,” he said.
As earlier reported, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have yet to reach their full potential, but the counteroffensive is going to plan, Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Oleksandr Syrskyi said.
