Zelensky: The war is “closer to the end” than many people think

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he believes the war with Russia is "closer to the end" than many people think, and called on allies to strengthen the Ukrainian army.

He said this in an interview with the American TV channel ABC News.

"The plan for victory is to strengthen Ukraine. Therefore, we ask our friends, our allies to strengthen us. This is very important," Zelensky emphasized.

He thinks that Ukraine is closer to peace. And only from a "strong position" can Ukraine "push Putin to end the war."

According to him, Putin is afraid of the operation of the Defense Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region, because the Russians saw that "he cannot defend his territory."

There are four key points in the victory plan that Volodymyr Zelensky wants to present in the USA. And two of them are the continuation of Ukraineʼs operation in the Kursk region of Russia in order to have a "territorial trump card" for negotiations, as well as a request for "specific" modern weapons.

Ukraine has long been asking its allies to allow their weapons to be used for long-range strikes deep into Russia. For such purposes, Ukraineʼs arsenal includes, in particular, American ATACMS surface-to-surface long-range missiles and British Storm Shadow long-range missiles.

However, none of these countries gave Ukraine permission to use their weapons for attacks deep into the Russian Federation. The US fears a possible escalation against the background of this decision. And Great Britain cannot allow such strikes to Ukraine due to resistance from the USA.