Ukraine: The Ukrainian President Mr. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that the Israel-Gaza war is “taking away the focus” from the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Mr. Zelenskyy noted that this was “one of the goals” of Russia, which launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Additionally, the Ukrainian President denied that fighting in Ukraine had reached a stalemate, despite a recent statement of this effect by the country’s top military general.
“It’s clear that the war in the Middle East is taking away the focus from Ukraine,” Mr. Zelensky said while speaking at a briefing in Kyiv.
The Ukrainian leader remarked that Russia wanted this focus to be “weakened”, but stressed that “everything is in our power.”.
Mr. Zelenskyy was also asked to comment on this week’s assessment by Ukraine’s chief military commander Mr. Valery Zaluzhny that the war was now moving to a “positional” or static stage, and this would benefit Moscow by “allowing it to rebuild its military power.”
“Everyone is getting tired, and there are different opinions. But this is not a stalemate,” the President added.
Mr. Zelenskyy admitted that Russia was “controlling the skies” and that Ukraine urgently needed US-made F-16 warplanes and advanced anti-aircraft defenses to change the situation.
In addition, the Ukrainian leader rejected media reports that he was coming under growing pressure to consider negotiations with Russia.
“Today, no one among the EU, US leaders, and others—our partners—is putting pressure on us to now sit down to negotiate with Russia and give away something to it. This will not happen,” Mr. Zelenskyy added.
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