Zelensky points to lack of munitions, training for delayed Ukraine counteroffensive

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an interview that aired Sunday attributed the delayed start of his nation’s counteroffensive against Russia to insufficient munitions and training earlier this year.

“We did have plans to start it in spring. But we didn’t, because, frankly, we had not enough munitions and armaments and not enough brigades properly trained in these weapons, still, more, that the training missions were held outside Ukraine. But, still, we started. And this is important,” Zelensky told CNN‘s Fareed Zakaria on “GPS” through a translator.

Ukraine launched a counteroffensive against Russia to take back occupied territory after months of preparation and some delay in the timeline. Although the counteroffensive started off strong, its pace has slowed as Ukraine has been going through munitions quickly.

Zelensky explained that the delay in the attack’s start gave Russia more time to lay mines in fields, which Ukrainian troops must take steps to avoid, slowing their advance.

“And because we started it a bit later on, it can be said, and it will be shared truth understood by all the experts that it provided Russia with time to mine all our lands and build several lines of defense. And, definitely, they had even more time than they needed. Because of that, they built more of those lines. And, really, they had a lot of mines in our fields. Because of that, a slower pace of our counteroffensive actions,” Zelensky said, through a translator. “We didn’t want to lose our people, our personnel. And our servicemen didn’t want to lose equipment because of that.”

“Yes, I do understand that it’s always better to see victory come sooner. This is what we also want. But the question is the price … of this victory. So, let us not throw people under tanks literally. Let us plan our counteroffensive as our analysts, our intelligence suggests. And some of our residential areas have been liberated already. So, I do believe in our victory,” he added.

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