President Volodymyr Zelensky said his Western backers failed to supply Ukraine with weapons in a timely manner, allowing Russia to build up its defenses. The delay is responsible for Ukraine’s lack of progress during its three-month-long counteroffensive.
April 15, 2022, Kyiv, Kyiv, Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, delivers an address on the Russian invasion, April 15, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Credit Image: (C) Ukraine Presidency/Ukraine Presi/Planet Pix via ZUMA Press Wire)
In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, Zelensy explained, “We — look, we waited too long. It’s true. No, I’m thankful to partners, to the United States, EU, other partners,” he said. “I’m thankful very much to President Biden and to Congress, but we have to understand: We waited too long, they put mines.”
He added that Western arms often do not arrive in Kiev for some time after Western nations announce they plan to provide the weapons. “Then when we been ready from the point of view of our partners because the decision to give us, for example, Bradley [Fighting Vehicles] and other kind of weapons, the decision, it doesn’t mean the result,” Zelensky explained.
In a recently released assessment of Ukraine’s military in February, former defense minister Oleksii Reznikov believed his army only had supplies for two to two and a half months of fighting remaining in Kiev’s stockpiles. “Our army would have been physically exhausted,” Reznikov reported.
In March, the New York Times reported that Washington was helping Kiev with war games for a counteroffensive that was likely to focus on Russian-held territory in southern Ukraine. Those military operations kicked off in early June. By then, Russia had several lines of well-fortified defenses secured with minefields.
When asked about launching the counteroffensive in late March, Zelensky shot down the idea. He said Ukraine can’t “start yet” and can’t “send our brave soldiers to the front line without tanks, artillery and long-range rockets.”
The Ukrainian leader expressed that view again in May. “We can advance with what we’ve got and I think we can be successful but we will lose a lot of people, I think that is unacceptable,” Zelensky said. “We need to wait, we need a bit more time.”
He added, “They will reinforce our counteroffensive and most importantly they will protect our people. We are expecting armored vehicles, they arrive in batches.”
Still, Washington pushed Kiev to launch the counter-offensive. As many American and Ukrainian officials predicted before the start of operations, on the battlefield, Kiev has found little success.
Kyle Anzalone is news editor of the Libertarian Institute, opinion editor of Antiwar.com and co-host of Conflicts of Interest with Will Porter and Connor Freeman.
The details of the peace deal presented today by US special envoy Steve Witkoff are consistent with the report in the Financial Times discussed in my previous article and with Larry Sparano in the posted interview. Putin will halt the Russian advance prior to driving Ukrainian soldiers out of all of the territory that has been reincorporated into Russia. It appears to be the case that the borders between Russia and Ukraine will be the current front line, so Putin is withdrawing Russia’s claim to the Russian territories still under Ukrainian occupation.
Russia and the US seem near a Ukraine peace deal. Kyiv’s role may be moot.
President Donald Trump’s hopes of securing a quick Ukraine peace deal hang in the balance after Washington’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, held his fourth Kremlin meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday.
