Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky said he has a battle plan to retake several Russian-occupied cities by 2024, while Kiev ruled out a possible cessation of hostilities to negotiate with the Kremlin.
Moscow is moving closer to half a million men signed contracts with the military and has also multiplied arms production, while Kiev stated that it is far from restoring its arsenals to the levels at the start of the war.
“I have a plan. We have very specific cities and directions to move forward. I can’t reveal the details, but we have made small progress in the south and also in the east.”Zelensky said during a video conference with New York.
The president also mentioned the progress already made in the southern Kherson region, where the Ukrainians appear to have taken a position in enemy territory, on the left bank of the Dnieper River.
Zelensky, who on Thursday extended martial law and general mobilization for three months, has been trying for days to dispel doubts, both in his country and in the West, that the counter-offensive launched on June 4 has come to an end came.
On Thursday, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, highlighted Kiev’s “great successes” on the flank of Russia’s annexed Crimean peninsula.
“The destruction of its assets on the territory of Crimea and the destruction of the Black Sea Fleet is a great achievement of our country”Danilov said, referring to the fact that Kiev this week damaged another Russian ship, the missile carrier Askold, during an attack on the shipyards in Kerch.
Zelensky also did not hesitate to denounce the slow supply of weapons from the West and its impact on the front line, admitting that the attitude of some US Republican politicians was worrying Kiev.
The Ukrainian president also called for Russian assets frozen in the West as a result of the war to be spent on rebuilding Ukraine, a possibility supported by the US and European Union and which the Kremlin has already condemned.
To ensure there was no doubt about Kiev’s plans, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba ruled out the possibility of a lull in the fighting, responding to news of closed-door talks between the West and Kiev on peace negotiations .
“Neither one of the 200 rounds of negotiations nor the twenty ceasefire agreements have stopped Putin from launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.”Kuleba published on the social network [antigo Twitter].
“Those who argue that Ukraine should now start a dialogue with Russia are either uninformed, confused, or they are on Russia’s side and want Putin to wait a while before further aggression takes place.”he added.
Meanwhile, Yuriy Ignatm, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force, announced this Thursday the future creation of pilot training centers for flying North American F-16 fighters, adding that the training of Ukrainian pilots in Romania, where five fighters have already arrived, I haven’t started yet.
Russia also appears unwilling to give up hostilities. According to the deputy head of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, around 410,000 Russians have signed contracts with the army to fight in Ukraine since January 1.
During a visit to a military base, Medvedev emphasized that authorities are seeing an increase in the number of Russians “who are ready to defend their homeland, our country.”
According to the Ukrainian General Staff, Russian forces suffered more than a thousand casualties in the past 24 hours.
Medvedev also emphasized that Russia has increased its weapons production several times in the past year.
“The potential of our military industry has reached a level not seen since the end of the Great Patriotic War” (1941-45), he declared.
Source: DN
