MOSCOW, 4 Nov. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky did not agree with the position of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny that the situation at the front has reached a dead end, Strana.ua reports.
“»This is not a stalemate. I emphasize again. We this has already been discussed,” he said.
According to Zelensky, Russia has a significant advantage in the air, so the Ukrainian Armed Forces need F-16 fighters to continue the offensive. He also suggested waiting for the completion of the training of pilots and mechanics.
Earlier, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny acknowledged the deadlock in the conflict and stated that “most likely there will not be a deep and beautiful breakthrough.” According to a publication in the Economist magazine, Kyiv and the West expected more from the Ukrainian counteroffensive. According to Zaluzhny, in accordance with NATO textbooks, four months should have been enough for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to reach Crimea.
Ukrainian troops tried for five months to attack in the Yuzhnodonetsk, Artemovsk and Zaporozhye directions, throwing into battle brigades trained by NATO and armed with foreign equipment. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on October 5 at a meeting of the Valdai international discussion club that since June 4, the enemy has lost over 90 thousand people, 557 tanks and almost 1,900 armored vehicles. He also emphasized that the Ukrainian counter-offensive actually failed.