Zelenskyy: Counteroffensive will take place "like in the fall"

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that the counteroffensive of Ukrainian forces will continue in the same way as in the fall when it seemed that the process had slowed down and then the Armed Forces began to advance rapidly.

He said this in an interview with the BBC.

"We assess the counteroffensive positively. It is not easy, because there are certain difficulties. First of all, all our land is mined, even where we have de-occupied our territory, almost 200 thousand square kilometers of our land is mined. That's why counteroffensive actions are not easy... In the fall, we had counteroffensive actions and it seemed like a slow process. But at some point, everyone saw how rapidly we began to move forward. The same will happen here," the President noted.

According to him, of course, it would be desirable to make bigger steps in the offensive, but "he who fights will overcome, and he who knocks on the door will be opened."

"Therefore, in any case, we are confident in the success of the counteroffensive," Zelenskyy said.

He emphasized that the Ukrainian military is motivated, unlike the Russian military. "The Russian military is threatened by their leadership. They know that if they retreat, they will simply be killed," the President said.

He also emphasized that Russia causes terrible tragedies in Ukraine every day:

"I am not sure that they can resist us. But the fact that they are ready to go to some disasters, to great suffering, to bring their steps to natural disasters, to large-scale disasters, is absolutely clear," Zelenskyy said.

He noted that four thousand homes were flooded after the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam was blown up: "Some say that they wanted to prevent our counteroffensive in this way. Well, I'll tell you frankly, don't believe such information. Russia does this every day. It blows up our infrastructure every day, hits us with missiles, etc.", the head of state said.

Author - Serhii Kolomiets, 23/06/2023