Russian invasion
Zelenskyj: Rockets would help to advance faster
“The war is not over yet”: Volodymyr Zelenskyj. photo
© Efrem Lukatsky/AP/dpa
He would have liked the counteroffensive to start earlier, said Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. Once again, the US and Europe are asking for more support, especially missiles.
The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky would have wished for the counter-offensive to liberate the Russian-occupied areas in his country to start “much earlier”.
He told the US and European partners “that we would like to start our counter-offensive earlier and that we need all the weapons and material for it. Why? Simply because it will be slower if we start later,” Zelensky said the US broadcaster CNN in an interview that was published in full. According to the broadcaster, the conversation was recorded on Sunday in Odessa.
“We cannot imagine Ukraine without Crimea”
Zelenskyi stressed the importance of longer-range ATACMS-type missiles, which Ukraine is asking the US for, and which could attack Russian targets far behind the front lines. The missiles would help Ukraine move faster, Zelenskyy said. He also pointed to shortages in equipping his troops with artillery. “In some directions we can’t even think about starting it (the counter-offensive) because we don’t have the right weapons,” Zelenskyy said.
The president of the attacked country made it clear once again what a recapture of the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, would mean for Ukraine. “We cannot imagine Ukraine without Crimea,” said Zelenskyy. “And as long as Crimea is under Russian occupation, it only means one thing: the war isn’t over.”