2023-06-03 09:27:54
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that his country is ready to launch a long-awaited counteroffensive to recapture Russian-occupied territories.
“We believe very strongly that we will succeed,” Zelensky told the Wall Street Journal.
He added, “I don’t know how long it will take. To be honest, it might go in many completely different ways. But we will do it, and we are ready.”
Kiev hopes that the counterattack will change the course of the war, which broke out with the Russian invasion of its lands 15 months ago.
Zelensky said last month that his country needed to wait for more Western armored vehicles to arrive before launching a counterattack.
And he made diplomatic efforts to maintain Western support, and asked for more military aid and weapons, which is essential to the success of Ukraine in its plans.
Russia controls large swaths of Ukrainian territory in the east, south and southeast.
A prolonged spell of dry weather in some parts of Ukraine raised expectations that a counter-attack might be imminent. Over the past few weeks, Ukraine has stepped up its strikes on Russian ammunition depots and logistical supply routes.
On Saturday, the Ukrainian army said in a daily report that the fighting was concentrated in Marinka, in the Donetsk region, in the east.
The report added that the Ukrainian forces repelled all 14 attacks by the Russian forces there.
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