Sep 15 (Askume) – Ukraine’s military is suffering heavy losses because Western weapons are arriving too slowly, President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN in an interview aired on Sunday, saying the armed forces are poorly equipped.
Russia is tightening its control over parts of eastern Ukraine, including Pokrovsk. Seizing transportation hubs could help Moscow open new lines of attack.
Zelenskyy said the situation in the eastern region was “very difficult”, adding that half of Ukraine’s brigades were not equipped.
“That’s why you lose a lot of people. You lose people because they’re not in armored vehicles … they don’t have cannons, they don’t have shells,” English said, according to CNN on Friday.
Zelensky said weapons aid programs promised by the United States and European countries are arriving too slowly.
“We need to prepare 14 brigades. So far…we have not even equipped four brigades with this equipment,” he said.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Saturday that Washington was working on a “substantial” new aid package for Ukraine .
Zelensky is due to meet US President Joe Biden this month and propose a plan to end the war. The key elements, he said, were security and diplomatic support as well as military and economic aid.
Zelensky said Russian President Vladimir Putin is simply worried about how his people will react if they have to pay the price of war. “Strengthen Ukraine and you will see they will sit and talk.”
Zelensky will also reiterate his demand to Biden to allowUkraine uses US long-range weapons to attack military targets in Russia .
He told CNN that Kiev needed permission because Russian jets had begun flying within 500 kilometres (310 miles) of the front line, compared with the previous 150 kilometres.
