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In an interview near the Kharkiv frontline, Zelensky said they are preparing for a new counterattack.
Of course, we are preparing a new counterattack, a new operation
– said the head of state of Ukraine.
Last spring, Ukraine planned a large-scale counterattack, the main goal of which was to recapture southern territories in order to open a path to the Crimean peninsula. However, they were only able to start the counterattack in the summer and ran into the reinforced Russian defense lines, so in the end they were only able to recover a few smaller settlements.
The Ukrainian armed forces are currently in a worse situation than last summer:
artillery ammunition is scarce, and other areas are in short supply. At the moment, launching a larger counterattack hardly seems realistic, the initiative on the battlefield is clearly with the Russians.
Last fall, the recently deposed Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzsny after the failure of the counterattack, he wrote that the war had reached a stalemate.
Zelensky, in response to a reporter’s question, now said, there is no stalemate on the battlefieldhowever, admitted that the situation in the east is “very complicated”.
According to the Ukrainian president, the only success of the Russian troops in 9 months was the capture of Avgyijivka. (The previous Russian success was the capture of Bahmut last May.)
Zelensky said to Ukraine you would need long range weapons. The range of Ukrainian artillery is currently 20 kilometers, while that of the Russians is twice that, so the balance of power is not balanced at the moment, he said.
Cover Photo: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signs a Ukrainian flag during a visit to the command post of the 14th Mechanized Brigade in Kupyansk, eastern Ukraine, on Feb. 19, 2024, in this photo released by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office. MTI/EPA/Ukraine Presidential Press Office
