Russia will lose the Ukraine war if Kyiv’s newly-launched counteroffensive aimed at breaking through Moscow’s defenses is successful, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview that aired Thursday.
Speaking to NBC News’ chief foreign correspondent Richard Engle in Kyiv, the Ukrainian leader said he believes that if Vladimir Putin’s troops are routed in the pushback, Russia will lose the entire conflict, now nearing its 16th month.
“Our heroic people, our troops on the front of the front line are facing very tough resistance,” he said. “Because for Russia to lose this campaign to Ukraine, I would say, actually means losing the war.”
In the past, Zelensky has generally shied away from characterizing the counter-push, which has been months in the making, as the critical attack that would decide the fate of his country.
Asked to comment on the situation on the ground, Zelensky, who has been tight-lipped about the specifics of the long-awaited counteroffensive, said that he could not “give all the details.”
But he said that “things look not bad. I would say it’s generally positive, but it’s difficult.”
US Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared to back Zelensky’s assessment of the conditions on the front lines, telling a press conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels that Kyiv’s forces were making steady progress — but he warned that campaign will likely be long and bloody.
“Ukraine has begun their attack and they are making steady progress,” he said. “This is a very difficult fight. It’s a very violent fight, and it will likely take a considerable amount of time at a high cost.”
Milley touted the Ukrainian military leadership, and the skill and morale of its troops, which he contrasted with Russia, saying: “Their leadership is not necessarily coherent, their troops’ morale is not high, and they’re sitting in defensive positions and many of them don’t even know why they’re there.”
The counteroffensive is in its early stages, and military experts say the decisive battles still lie ahead, but the Ukrainian military, which has been silent for more than a week, held a press briefing Thursday to publicize its early successes, including the capture of at least seven settlement and 38 square miles of territory in the south.
“We are ready to continue fighting to liberate our territory even with our bare hands,” said Brigadier-General Oleksii Hromov.
Corpses of Russian soldiers and burnt-out armored vehicles were seen lining the roadside in the newly liberated villages of Neskuchne and Storozheve, which had been under Russian control since the early days of the invasion.
Ukrainian troops in Storozheve told Reuters they had killed around 50 Russians and captured four there.
The army on the southern front had advanced by more than 4 miles in the area along the Mokry Yali, as well as by nearly 2 miles on another axis further west near the village of Mala Tokmachka, Ukrainian military officials said.
They also described advances in the east around the city of Bakhmut, which Russian mercenaries seized last month as its only major prize for a bloody winter and spring offensive.
Moscow has not acknowledged any setbacks on the battlefield, with Russian President Vladimir Putin claiming that his forces were inflicting 10 times more casualties on Ukrainians than they were suffering.
Kyiv is believed to have prepared an attack force of around 12 brigades of thousands of soldiers each, most using newly arrived German Leopard 2 tanks, American Bradleys, and armored vehicles. Only a fraction of them have been engaged so far.
Russia has recently released images of Western military equipment it said it has destroyed or captured.
Ukrainian forces have yet to reach the heaviest Russian defensive fortifications, including a network of deep trenches and so-called dragon’s teeth barricades, which the enemy had months to prepare.
Meanwhile, in a bid to convey to the world that Russia was in control of the situation, it announced Thursday a plan to hold elections in illegally annexed regions of Ukraine.
Russia’s TASS state news agency quoted election chief Ella Pamfilova as saying that both the Defense Ministry and the Federal Security Service had concluded that it would be possible to hold the votes in September.
Kyiv countered by saying that any elections staged by Russians on Ukrainian territory would be invalid and illegal.
With Post wires
