President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the statements that the war with Russia had gone into a dead end and stated that the country was developing a new strategy. He told about it in an exclusive interview with the American channel NBC News.
"They thought they would give us a chess and a mat, but it didn't happen," Zelensky said. "I do not think that this is a stake."
Zelensky's assertion contrasted with the statements of the Commander -in -Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny, who last week said The Economist that during the Ukrainian counter -offensive "a deep and beautiful breakthrough, it is likely that it would not be."
The slow progress of this counter -offensive has led to the growing criticism of some of the closest partners of Kiev as to how Ukraine is leading the war and heating doubts about its ability to win.
The uncertainty of the event, which was further intensified by Zaluzhny's article, could influence Zelensky's decision to dismiss the Special Operations Commander -in -Chief Viktor Khorenko, replacing him with officer Sergey Lupanchuk.
This dismissal, which took place without the participation of Zaluzhny and about which Khorenko himself, according to him, "learned from the media", increased rumors that there was a split between the President's office and the military.
"We are waiting for new results," Zelensky himself commented on this personnel change.
In an interview with NBC, Zelensky also stressed that Ukraine is considering changes in its military strategy to achieve these new results that are expected from it.
"Our military is developing different plans, different operations to move forward faster and suddenly hit the Russian Federation," he said.
Zelensky acknowledged that Ukraine's promotion is slow and that there is a fatigue because the war has been going on for a long time and it is not visible until the end. At the same time, he insisted that the Ukrainian military "was still more motivated than any Russians who came to Ukraine to kill us."
He also again appealed to Western partners, including the United States, with a request for military assistance - according to him, most Ukraine needs help in the air.
He repeated his calls for strengthening of air defense systems and noted that Ukraine especially needed drones - both attacking and intelligence. According to him, Ukraine has started production of some drones, but it needs more. Without such help, it will be difficult for Ukrainians to "step forward", Zelensky said.
"We need to save our country. Therefore, one of the ways is the joint production of air defense," the President of Ukraine said.
However, as long as this joint production will be launched and it will work, it has called on partners in the United States, Europe and Asia to give Ukraine aircraft for rent.
This is especially important, according to the approach of winter, which will be difficult, because Russia, as last year, is likely to fireting Ukrainian infrastructure.
Baiden's administration has already appealed to Congress to allocate billions of dollars to Ukraine, but it faces the opposition of Republicans in the House of Representatives, who are less likely to continue to provide such assistance.
Public support for war in Ukraine in the United States is also falling. Gallup survey in October showed that 41%of Americans believe that they do too much to help Kiev, which is much more than June, when this figure was 29%, and with August 2022, when this figure was only 24%.
According to a survey, 58% of Americans said the US is doing for Ukraine either enough or too little compared to 69% in June.
During the interview, there were also possible peace talks, which, according to the NBC with reference to the current and former US High -ranking officials, discuss the governments of the United States, Europe and Ukraine.
According to these officials, who spoke on the conditions of anonymity, during these discussions, in particular, the issues of possible territorial concessions were raised to which Ukraine will have to go to reach the agreement. In particular, such negotiations took place last month during a meeting of representatives of more than 50 countries that support Ukraine, known as a contact group on defense of Ukraine.
In response to the question whether such discussions were and whether he was involved in person, Zelensky noted that Ukraine has no choice but to continue to fight, and that any negotiations will be possible only after Russia withdraw its troops from Ukrainian land.
He also stressed that the Allies should continue to support because Kiev protects "common values" such as democracy.
The alternative, he said, is too dangerous - if "Russia is killing us all" and Ukraine will lose, it will not stop and attack NATO countries, and then the Alliance will have to send "their sons and daughters", Zelensky said.
He also acknowledged that the war of Israel and Hamas also demanded funding and resources from the United States and stressed that "the whole world should do everything possible to stop this war in the Middle East.
At the same time, he added that this war only on Putin's hand and accused Russia of sponsoring Hamas.
In an interview, Zelensky also stated that he was "ready to go to Israel today", but repeated attempts by the Ukrainian leader to visit the country have come to a deadlock.
When asked by the presenter that he would respond to the previous US President Donald Trump, who said that he could finish the war in 24 hours, Zelensky invited Trump to Ukraine.
"If he comes here, I will take 24 minutes, no more than to explain to President Trump that he will not be able to cope with this war," he said.
At the same time, he also stressed that, despite the fact that he has a lot of strength and energy, it does not mean that Ukraine is ready to fight "all its life" because the price is very high, because in this war the best sons and daughters of the country are killed.
"But we are not ready to give our freedom to this ... Putin's terrorist," Zelensky said, adding that this is why Ukraine continues the struggle.
