Ukraine is ready to launch a counteroffensive, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said

Vladimir Zelensky: “I don't know how long it will take. But we're going to do it, and we're ready.» Credit: Dmitry Doru/Shutterstock

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says Ukraine is ready to launch a heavy counter-offensive against the occupying Russian forces.

But he warned that defeating the Russian military would take time and be costly, as the Russian Air Force maintain superiority on the front lines.

“I don’t know how long it will take,” he told reporters. Wall Street Journal. «But we're going to do it, and we're ready.»

The Ukrainian military has been preparing for months for a counterattack that they hope could be decisive in their fight against Russia. Its commanders have had to wait for more modern weapons to arrive from the west, and also for the damp spring weather to pass, allowing the ground to dry enough for the tanks to maneuver.

Ukraine is destroying command centers

Last month. Britain gave Ukraine Storm Shadow missiles that tripled its range. Since then, Ukraine has destroyed command centers and supply depots deep behind Russian lines.

Ben Wallace, the UK defense secretary, warned this week that the West lacked the capacity to supply Ukraine with artillery shells and other munitions, but Mr. Zelenskiy still used the interview to push for more equipment.

«We would like to have certain things, but we can't wait months,» he said. Ukraine's Western allies have promised to train Ukrainian pilots in F-16 fighter jets, but they won't go into combat in the next few months.

Although Russian soldiers are demoralized and exhausted after 15 months of war, Western intelligence agencies say Russian troops can still defend a vast network of trenches and minefields along a 600-mile front line.

«The Kremlin is getting more worried»

The However, Volodymyr Kharylov, Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine, said the Kremlin was increasingly concerned about the Ukrainian counteroffensive and was trying to thwart it with intense missile strikes over the past month.

“Their main goal is to stop our counteroffensive and hit the decision-making centers,” he said on the sidelines of the Asian security conference “Shangri-La Dialogue” in Singapore.

Mr. Kharylov also ridiculed the Kremlin for underestimating the effectiveness of the Patriot air defense system that the US provided to Ukraine, and the impact of British Storm Shadow missiles, which, according to him, have never hit the target.

“It was a huge surprise for them to find that the effectiveness [of their ballistic missiles] was almost zero against modern air defense systems,” he said.