Not a Hollywood movie: Ukraine’s Zelensky on ‘slower than desired’ progress in counteroffensive

KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that progress in

his country’s counteroffensive against Russian forces

was “slower than desired” but that Kyiv would not be pressured into speeding it up as its troops advance through dangerous minefields.

“Some people believe this is a Hollywood movie and expect results now. It’s not,” Britain’s BBC quoted him as saying in an interview. “What’s at stake is people’s lives.”

Ukraine says its long-awaited first counteroffensive for seven months has reclaimed eight villages, but its forces so far have yet to push their way to the main defensive lines that Russia has had months to prepare.

Kyiv is believed to have set aside 12 brigades of thousands of troops each for the assault, most of which have yet to join the fight.

Reuters has visited some villages recaptured by Ukrainian forces and confirmed an advance of several kilometres. Moscow says it has been resisting the Ukrainian advances since early June.

The BBC quoted Mr Zelensky as saying the military push was not going easily because 200,000 sq km of Ukrainian territory had been mined by Russian forces.

“Whatever some might want, including attempts to pressure us, with all due respect, we will advance on the battlefield the way we deem best,” he added.

After a flurry of early gains, Kyiv has claimed to have captured only one additional village over the past week, the hamlet of Piatykhatky.

Officials said on Wednesday that forces in the south were mostly consolidating earlier gains, while troops in the east were holding off Russian attacks.

“They had partial success over the past day, they have consolidated at the boundaries that were reached, and they have evened up the front line,” Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said.

Mr Zelensky’s interview with Britain’s public broadcaster was timed to coincide with the International Ukraine Recovery Conference 2023 – the second to be held since the Russian invasion in February 2022.

The first, in Lugano, Switzerland, last July saw allies commit to supporting Ukraine through what is expected to be an eye-wateringly expensive and decades-long recovery.

Leaders and representatives from more than 60 countries attended Wednesday’s conference, with Western allies pledging to make Russia pay for invading Ukraine.

“Let’s be clear: Russia is causing Ukraine’s destruction,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told delegates at the London conference. “Russia will eventually bear the cost of Ukraine’s reconstruction,” he added.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak voiced a similar message, promising to keep tough sanctions in place “until Russia pays up”, and to use seized assets to get Ukraine back on its feet.

The World Bank has put an estimate of US$14 billion (S$18.8 billion) on Ukraine’s immediate needs to repair the damage caused by the bitter fighting. But a recent study by the World Bank, the United Nations, the European Union and the Ukrainian government said the wider recovery of the economy would cost US$411 billion.

“Every day of Russian aggression brings new ruins, thousands and thousands of destroyed houses, devastated industries, burnt lives,” Mr Zelensky told the conference by video link.

But he set out his stall for future investment in Ukraine, saying that despite the devastation, the country was ripe for development in sectors from technology and green agriculture to clean energy.

“The world is watching to see if we will restore normal life in such a way that our transformation will land an ideological defeat on the aggressor,” he said. “We protect Ukraine, and thus we protect freedom. And when we build Ukraine, we’ll build freedom.”

Both Ukraine and Russia have stepped up longer-range attacks with missiles and drones in preparation for the fighting at the front.

President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia’s new generation of Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are capable of carrying 10 or more nuclear warheads, would be deployed for combat duty. The first Sarmat launchers will be put on combat duty “in the near future”, he said.

In a speech to new graduates of military academies, he stressed the importance of Russia’s “triad” of nuclear forces that can be launched from land, sea or air.

“The most important task here is the development of the nuclear triad, which is a key guarantee of Russia’s military security and global stability,” he said. REUTERS, AFP