The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, acknowledged yesterday Friday that the counteroffensive in the east and south, where the army has been trying to expel Russian troops from the country for three months, is going very slowly.
This is because, he said at a forum held in Kyiv, Russia outperforms Ukraine in the air. His words were not a hint for the partners to understand that they must speed up the arrival of the promised fighter jets, as the Ukrainian leader was very clear when he assured that the supply of Western weapons is slowing down.
Russia's air superiority is stopping the Ukrainian counteroffensive, Zelenskiy admitted. It started in June and the results obtained so far have nothing to do with the enthusiasm that some media and political leaders seemed to show then.
"If we are not in heaven and Russia is, they are arresting us from heaven. They stop our counteroffensive", declared the Ukrainian president at the Yalta European Strategy Forum, held in the Ukrainian capital.
Various media outlets have quoted unidentified US officials as complaining about the slowness of the counteroffensive. The Ukrainian Government did not like the criticism, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmitró Kuleba, went so far as to ask the critics to be silent.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived on a surprise two-day visit to Ukraine on Wednesday to support Kyiv's war effort, and assured that "progress" was being made on the counter-offensive and that "the last two weeks have accelerated". That day he announced a new aid package to Ukraine of more than one billion dollars. Included is the controversial supply of depleted uranium projectiles for the 31 American M1 Abrams tanks that US President Joe Biden promised Ukraine in January.
"We want to make sure that the Ukrainians can be as effective as possible in this counter-offensive," the spokesman for the National Security Council of the White House, John Kirby, explained in Washington.
Despite his sincerity when he uttered the mea culpa, Zelenski reprimanded the partners that they must share the responsibility if there are no significant advances. The reason is that they are not sending military aid to Ukraine at the required speed. The Ukrainian president denounced "increasingly complicated and slow processes regarding sanctions (against Russia) or the supply of weapons" from the West. "The war is slowing down, we recognize this fact", he said.
"When the partners tell us 'What is the next step in the counter-offensive?', my answer is that our steps are probably faster than the new sanctions packages", he emphasized.
Ukraine's partners have handed it long-range weapons with droppers, as if they did not trust Kyiv's promise not to use them against Russian territory. It is feared that, if it happens, the conflict will spill over the Ukrainian borders and cause a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO.
If the West would more quickly deliver long-range munitions, which would allow attacking Russian defenses, rearguards and logistics, the Ukrainian army would advance more quickly. “Each specific weapon has a specific impact. The more powerful and long-range it is, the faster the counter-offensive will be", emphasized the Ukrainian president.
Ukraine also wants the aid to result in the arrival of F-16 fighter jets, as the Soviet-era air force is small and aging. But he has complained about the slowness of negotiations with partners. Several dozen of the American-made planes will be delivered by European countries, but they will have to wait months for their arrival in Ukraine, because it takes time to train the crew. With these, Zelenski could stand up to Russia in the air as well.
