Zelensky says he warned allies Ukraine’s counter-offensive would proceed slowly

KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had warned the US and other Western nations that

the counter-offensive

would go slowly

the longer it took allies to deliver the promised weapons and ammunition needed

for the mission.

In an interview with CNN on Wednesday evening, Mr Zelensky said Ukraine wanted to start the military campaign sooner but had to wait for the advanced weaponry.

He said through an interpreter that he was grateful to the United States, but had told US leaders as well as European leaders that the country would like to start its counter-offensive earlier, and it needed “all the weapons and materials for that”.

“Why? Simply because if we start later, it will go slower,” he said.

The slow progress has been a common refrain from allies and pro-Russian military bloggers assessing the counter-offensive, which has encountered extensive Russian defences.

General Mark Milley, chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week the Ukrainian troops were “advancing steadily, deliberately”.

“Slow advance is very deliberate,” the general added in remarks to the National Press Club in Washington on Friday.

He said the fact that the long-awaited push to recapture Russian-occupied territory was not advancing as rapidly as many experts had predicted did not surprise him.

“It’s going to be very long, and it’s going to be very, very bloody, and no one should have any illusions about any of that,” Gen Milley said. “Ukrainian soldiers are assaulting through minefields and in the trenches, and this is literally a fight for their life. So, yes, sure, it goes a little slow, but that is part of the nature of war.”

Ukraine has yet to commit the bulk of its reserves, including troops trained in Europe over the winter and spring, and equipped with weaponry from Nato countries, meaning it can bring still more force to bear.

In the CNN interview, Mr Zelensky made a familiar plea for even more advanced weapons, and for American-made F-16 fighter jets.

He said that in some areas, Ukrainian leaders cannot even think about starting the counter-offensive as they do not have the relevant weapons, and letting the troops be killed by Russian long-range weapons “would be simply inhumane”. NYTIMES