The President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine did not achieve the desired results during the summer counteroffensive, but he is satisfied that the Armed Forces are not retreating.
The President of Ukraine stated this in an interview with the “Associated Press”, taken in Kharkiv on November 30 and published on December 1.
According to Zelensky, Ukraine wanted to get faster results of the counteroffensive, but "unfortunately, we did not achieve the desired results."
"We wanted faster results. From that perspective, unfortunately, we did not achieve the desired results. And this is a fact," the president noted.
Zelensky believes that the reason for this, in particular, was the fact that the country did not receive all the necessary weapons from the allies, and the limited number of the Armed Forces does not make it possible to conduct a quick offensive. However, this does not mean that Ukraine should surrender, the president added.
"Look, we are not backing down, I am satisfied. We are fighting with the second (best) army in the world, I am satisfied," Zelensky noted.
According to the commander-in-chief, Ukraine managed to gradually achieve territorial gains against a more armed and strengthened enemy.
"We are confident in our actions. We fight for what is ours. There have been some positive findings over the past few months. We managed to achieve gradual territorial gains against a more armed and fortified enemy," the head of state summarized.
- Russia launched a war against Ukraine in 2014, when it occupied Crimea and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. On February 24, 2022, the Kremlin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine from the northern, eastern and southern directions.
- In April 2022, the Defense Forces expelled the occupiers from the northern regions of Ukraine, and in the fall de-occupied parts of the Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Kharkiv regions.
- On June 5, 2023, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine informed that the Defense Forces had gone on the offensive in some directions. Later, there were reports about the de-occupation of settlements in the east and south, in particular, the release of Staromayorske was reported by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on July 27.