Kyiv does not want to wait any longer
Zelenskyj on the offensive: “We are ready for it”
6/3/2023 1:06 p.m
F-16 fighter jets and some other Western weapons have not yet been delivered, but Ukraine apparently doesn’t want to wait any longer: President Zelenskyj declared in a US interview that they were ready for a counterattack. It is already clear: it will cost many lives.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sees the country as ready for the long-awaited counter-offensive to liberate areas from Russian occupation. “I think we’re ready for that today,” he said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, which publishes the US newspaper also as a video published on their website. Zelenskyi also said that Ukraine would have liked to have some more weapons for the offensive against the Russian invasion, but could not wait more months for their delivery.
“We believe very much in success, I don’t know how much time we need,” he said. At the same time, the head of government pointed out that it could take time and that the price of success would be high. There has been speculation for months about the beginning of the offensive, but at times it was said in Kiev that the operation was already underway.
At the same time, Zelenskyj again called for significantly more US “Patriot”-type air defense systems, in an interview he named the number 50. This week, at numerous meetings with Western heads of state and government, he advocated a “patriot” coalition to protect the Ukrainian pronounced airspace. The costs are likely to amount to the equivalent of hundreds of millions of euros. Zelenskyy said the Patriot missiles offered the best protection and could stop Russia’s terror.
Ukraine wants to save lives with “Patriot”.
“Today, ‘Patriot’ is the only weapon capable of stopping some of the types of missiles that the Russian Federation uses against our civilian population, schools, infrastructure and energy systems,” he told the newspaper. “50 Patriot batteries – and the majority of people don’t die.” According to the US television station CNN, Ukraine is currently using two Patriot systems, one of which was provided by Germany.
In the Russian war of aggression that has been going on for more than 15 months, Moscow has fired more rockets and drones at Ukraine and especially at Kiev in the past few days than at any time since the beginning of the invasion. The Ukrainian air defense repeatedly reported that all or almost all of these flying objects had been shot down thanks to the western defense systems. Nevertheless, there were dead and injured. Debris from missiles and drones that have been launched also leave behind massive damage to buildings, cars and roads, or hit people on the move.