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'We'd lose a lot of people': Ukraine's Zelensky gets real on Russia counteroffensive
Russia- Ukraine War: "With [what we have] we can go forward and be successful," Ukrainian president said.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his country needs more time to launch a counteroffensive against Russia as Kyiv still needs promised Western aid. "With [what we have] we can go forward and be successful," the president said as per the BBC.
"But we'd lose a lot of people. I think that's unacceptable," he added, saying, “So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time.”
Ukrainian army still needed "some things", including armoured vehicles that were “arriving in batches”, he said.
Expressing confidence, Zelensky praised the Ukrainian military but warned of the risks of a "frozen conflict" which was what Russia was "counting on".
“Everyone will have an idea. [But] they can't pressure Ukraine into surrendering territories. Why should any country of the world give Putin its territory?,” he said.
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Dismissing fears about losing US support if President Joe Biden is not re-elected in 2024, Zelensky said that he still enjoyed bipartisan support in the US Congress.
"Who knows where we'll be [when the election happens]?" he said, adding, "I believe we'll win by then."
In support of more Western sanctions against Russia, Zelensky said that they were having an impact on Moscow's defence industry.
“They still have a lot in their warehouses but… we already see that they've reduced shelling per day in some areas,” he said, adding that Moscow had found ways to bypass some of the measure.
The Ukrainian President also rejected Russian accusation against Kyiv of an alleged drone attack on the Kremlin last week which was described by Moscow as an attempt to assassinate President Putin.
