Zelensky Explains Why the Counteroffensive Is Slowing Down

In some parts of the country, one cannot “even think of launching” attacks because there are “no appropriate weapons”, the President said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the counterattack of the Ukrainian Armed Forces had been “slowed down” by a strong Russian defence and he would like to have the attack started “much earlier”. The head of state said that in an interview for CNN, released the day before. “I am grateful to the US that is our main support provider, but I told them, as well as European leaders, that we would like to start our counteroffensive earlier, and we need all the weapons and material resources for it. Why? Simply because if we start later, it will go slower,” Zelensky said. In some parts of the country, he said, one cannot “even think of launching” attacks because there are “no appropriate weapons”. He added, “current difficulties on the battlefield cause the counteroffensive slowdown”. “I wanted to start our counteroffensive much earlier, because everyone understood that if the attack was launched later, most of our territory would be mined. Thus, we give the enemy time and opportunity to put more mines and prepare their defence lines,” the President said. Zelensky also repeated his request for the F-16 fighters, “I am not even talking about Ukrainian superiority over the Russians in the sky. I am only talking about equality. The F-16s will not only help those on the battlefield move forward. Soldiers confront many challenges without air support”. The Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a counter-offensive at the beginning of June. During this month nine settlements and almost 160 sq km of territory were liberated.