Vladimir Zelensky says Ukrainian army’s ongoing counteroffensive is expected to ‘accelerate’ after slow start
Release date – 23rd July 22nd (Saturday) at 11:30pm
Kyiv: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the ongoing counteroffensive by Ukrainian troops is expected to “accelerate the pace” after a slow start, CNN reported.
Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum on Friday, Zelensky blamed the later-than-expected start of the operation and a lack of ammunition for the slow progress.
According to CNN, Zelensky said that we did plan to launch in the spring, but we didn’t do it because, frankly, we didn’t have enough ammunition and weapons, and we didn’t have enough brigades that were properly trained, I mean, didn’t have proper training in these weapons.
Since we started a bit late, it is fair to say that this is a fact that all experts agree on, and that this gave Russia an opportunity to lay mines and establish multiple lines of defense on all of our land. Of course, they had more time than they needed, so, they built all these lines. The Ukrainian president explained that, in fact, they have a lot of mines in our fields.
Despite the difficulties, his fellow countrymen are making progress, he said.
“We don’t want to lose our people, our personnel, our military, we don’t want to lose our equipment, and because of that, they are very cautious about offensive operations,” he said.
He added, ‘I would say we’re about to step up the pace of the action because we’ve gone through some mine sites and we’re demining those areas.
Zelensky’s comments came as Russian President Vladimir Putin said the West was disappointed by the outcome of Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
Putin said on Friday that the Kiev regime’s Western rulers were apparently disappointed by the outcome of the so-called counteroffensive, using the Russian-language name of the Ukrainian capital.
Meanwhile, Ukraine attacked an ammunition depot in Crimea on Saturday, forcing the evacuation of the region and canceling train services, according to information provided by Russia-backed authorities.
It was the latest in a string of recent attacks targeting Russian supplies and critical infrastructure on the occupied peninsula.
Social media videos showed thick black smoke rising not far from a train station in the town of Oktyabskoye in central Crimea. At least three loud explosions can be heard in one of the videos, according to CNN.
