Head of Ukrainian armed forces frustrated at West’s criticism that counter-offensive is too slow
Western criticism that Ukraine’s counter-offensive is moving more slowly than expected “p----d me off”, the head of the country’s armed forces said on Friday.
Gen Valery Zaluzhny revealed his frustrations with the impatience of some Western officials and military analysts, saying more ambitious plans were not feasible “without being fully supplied” with weapons and ammunition.
“This is not a show. It’s not a show the whole world is watching and betting on or anything. Every day, every metre is given by blood,” he told the Washington Post.
He said that “without being fully supplied, these plans are not feasible at all”, as he renewed calls for more military support, in particular F-16 fighter jets.
Gen Zaluzhny added: “But [these plans] are being carried out. Yes, maybe not as fast as the participants in the show, the observers, would like, but that is their problem.”
He told the newspaper that Kyiv’s largest Western backers would never launch an offensive without air superiority, which Ukraine has said would come with more modern jets.
“I do not need 120 planes. I’m not going to threaten the whole world. A very limited number would be enough,” he said. “But they are needed. Because there is no other way. Because the enemy is using a different generation of aviation.”
His comments came as Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, said Kyiv’s forces were “advancing in all directions” on the frontlines to the east and south.
Ms Maliar said troops were moving “confidently” on the flanks around Bakhmut, currently held by Russian forces after a months-long battle.
However, the deputy minister said that the effectiveness of the counter-offensive should be judged by “a lot of different military tasks”, and not just by advances and liberated settlements.
“Therefore, all these tasks are being carried out and only the military can assess this correctly and accurately, and according to their assessment, everything is going according to plan.”
Gen Zaluzhny’s comments also came just before Gen Mark Milley, of the US army said that the counter-offensive was “going slower than people had predicted,” but was making steady progress.
“It’s going slower than people had predicted. Doesn’t surprise me,” Gen Miley told an audience at the National Press Club. “It is advancing steadily, deliberately, working it’s way through very difficult minefields, etc.”
On Friday British-supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles were again used to strike targets deep behind the lines, reportedly striking a command centre in the occupied city of Berdyansk.
Russian sources shared images purporting to show the wreckage of one of the missiles, in what appeared to be the first confirmed interception of the long-range weapons by Russia’s air defences.
On the southern front, Russia used an Iskander ballistic missile to attack a bridgehead established by Ukrainian troops on the south side of the Dnipro river, the Russian-installed governor of Kherson said.
Drone footage of the strike shared on social media showed a large explosion at the foot of the Antonov, with the governor claiming that as many as 30 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the blast.
Further up the river, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, HUR, claimed Russian personnel had begun to leave the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Ukraine has previously claimed that Russia intends to sabotage the nuclear plant, which has been under the Kremlin’s control since March last year.
Elsewhere in the country, Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, ordered top military commanders to strengthen Ukraine’s northern border following the arrival in Belarus of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the mercenary leader who had led a brief mutiny in Russia.
Mr Zelensky wrote on Telegram on Friday: “The decision...is for Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhny and ‘North’ commander [Serhy] Naev to implement a set of measures to strengthen this direction.”
